Gallardía’s visual identity was developed in collaboration with interior designer Elisa Uriarte, aligning the branding with the architecture of the historic house that hosts the café in Montevideo, Uruguay. The project responds to a distinct cultural context: while Uruguay has an emerging specialty coffee scene,mate—a traditional infusion widely consumed in theSouthern Cone—remains the dominant everyday beverage. Creating a brand with a strong presence within this landscape required selecting a typeface with greater weight and character, moving away from the neutrality of a standard sans serif to establish a more defined visual voice. The logomark references the café’s interior lighting concept, taking inspiration from the light strokes incorporated into the spatial design. For the launch campaign, phrases were developed to reflect Uruguay’s cultural backdrop, including “drinking coffee in a country that drinks mate.”
Gallardía communicates a confident, culturally rooted modernism that respects tradition while asserting contemporary sophistication. The typography conveys intellectual warmth with enough weight and character to stand out in Uruguay's mate-dominated beverage culture, creating a brand presence that feels both locally authentic and internationally aware.
The combination works by leveraging Blef's distinctive character and heavier weight to establish strong brand presence against cultural competition, while DaVinci and Syne provide complementary voices for hierarchy. Blef's unique letterforms and substantial stroke weight give the logomark the "character" needed to differentiate from neutral sans serifs, while the supporting fonts offer clean readability for menu applications and signage across the historic café interior.
This three-font system creates thoughtful tension between personality and functionality—Blef anchors the identity with distinctive character, while DaVinci and Syne provide the operational flexibility needed for menus, signage, and campaign materials. The weight contrast between the bold logomark font and cleaner supporting fonts establishes clear visual hierarchy while maintaining cohesive brand voice.