the fruits of imagination: A La Cart – Designing Toronto’s newest brand

Here at Leo, we love our fair city of Toronto. So when were asked to help out on a new project aiming to bring diversity to the street food of the city, we were more than thrilled to help out.

The Toronto A La Cart program, run by the City, is meant to bring the diverse ethnic foods of Toronto out of the restaurants and on to our streets, to offer a healthier alternative to the hot dog, for those who want it, and to show that we are a city sophisticated and multicultural enough to present its residents with a kaleidoscope of street food offerings.

With this opportunity in mind, we set out to come up with an identity for the project. The resulting graphic design we developed is grounded by the number four. Four has great significance in terms of food and diversity. The four corners of the world (north, south, east, west), the four taste sensations (sweet, sour, salty, bitter), the four main utensils used when eating (fork, spoon, knife, chopsticks). It uses four circles, symbolizing plates, and grounds the utensils within them to create a graphic representation of the word ‘Cart’. The vibrant colour palette was inspired by actual vegetables and spices to reflect different cultures and ethnicity.

The identity can be found on the actual street carts throughout Toronto. I decided to go sample some down at

Nathan Phillips Square today…my picture doesn’t accurately reflect the crowds. There’s nothing like some good chicken Biryani and a fresh piece of fruit to enjoy out in the sun. I could get used to this. Hopefully some carts will pop up near our offices mid-town!