Dan Graves Creative Direction

Work Haven Hot Chicken

Haven Hot Chicken

An identity system flexible enough to survive whatever each new lease threw at it — same brand, different building, every time.

Client
Haven Hot Chicken
Year
TKTK
Role
Lead Designer
Sector
Restaurant / hospitality
Haven Hot Chicken — hero image

The brief

Haven was opening stores quickly with a single existing logo and not much else. They needed an identity expansion that could be bolder and more playful without touching the wordmark — exterior signage and packaging built to work across whatever physical space the next lease handed them.

The wordmark stayed as a fixed input. Build everything around it.

Storefront elevation, orange band across the upper façade with the script wordmark and chicken roundel. The shipped result, photographed in plan.
Hero Storefront elevation, orange band across the upper façade with the script wordmark and chicken roundel. The shipped result, photographed in plan.

The work

Lead designer. The structural problem was that the brand needed to flex per location — sign size, placement, orientation, how much exterior art each landlord and municipality would allow — without losing coherence between stores. So the identity got split into two layers:

Constant across every store. Color palette, typography, packaging system, the chicken-and-script identity language. Variable per location. Sign dimensions, mural placement and density, the way the pattern lived on each façade.

Four active stores, plus mockups for several future locations.

Front elevation of one store, orange band signage and a mural-scale chicken silhouette to the right of the entry.
Render Front elevation of one store, orange band signage and a mural-scale chicken silhouette to the right of the entry.
Architectural drawing overlaid with the brand panel — the system shown as it had to be discussed: with builders and landlords, in their language.
Architectural drawing overlaid with the brand panel — the system shown as it had to be discussed: with builders and landlords, in their language.
Same brand, different building, denser exterior art ("SPICY, DELICIOUS, CRISPY, CRUNCHY" wrapping the corner). The system flexing.
Alternative façade treatment Same brand, different building, denser exterior art ("SPICY, DELICIOUS, CRISPY, CRUNCHY" wrapping the corner). The system flexing.
The script wordmark in lockups, roundels, and the chicken icon. The "constant" layer of the system.
Logo expression sheet The script wordmark in lockups, roundels, and the chicken icon. The "constant" layer of the system.
Eight wordmark-on-pattern variants, showing the kit being stress-tested in different color and weight combinations.
Pattern explorations Eight wordmark-on-pattern variants, showing the kit being stress-tested in different color and weight combinations.
Orange field, chicken-and-flame pattern, wordmark in the chosen lockup.
Exterior signage panels in the chosen direction Orange field, chicken-and-flame pattern, wordmark in the chosen lockup.
More pattern direction work — a darker, moodier variant set evaluated alongside the standard orange. Process trace.
More pattern direction work — a darker, moodier variant set evaluated alongside the standard orange. Process trace.
Chicken-pattern tape running the length of the box, roundel at one end, wordmark inverted at the other. Where the brand finally lands in the customer's hand.
Packaging dieline Chicken-pattern tape running the length of the box, roundel at one end, wordmark inverted at the other. Where the brand finally lands in the customer's hand.
Heat level, sides, modifications. Brand and utility on the same surface — exactly where they should be.
Packaging dieline with the order checklist Heat level, sides, modifications. Brand and utility on the same surface — exactly where they should be.
Scaled-up flame wing icon plus full lockup. The favorite direction, picked by the client.
Hero packaging dieline Scaled-up flame wing icon plus full lockup. The favorite direction, picked by the client.

What I’m proudest of

The packaging — partly because the client picked one of my favorite directions. It pulled from old soda-fountain and pre-corporate quick-service Americana — bold, playful, warm — and updated it without leaning on nostalgia.

The founder put it best: it “felt FAST and HOT before you even opened the food packaging.” That’s the test for this kind of work — the brand has done its job before the customer even gets to the chicken.