Plate of Nations
Plate of Nations celebrates South Seattle's incredible restaurant diversity through an annual food festival. I created the visual identity and marketing materials that helped transform it from a grassroots event into a major community event supporting 70+ local businesses.
A different kind of restaurant week
For this annual event, I designed the logo, website, postcards/passports, online advertisements, social media assets, and printed menus, collaborating closely with a copywriter and the project manager. Each year, starting in 2018, I created fresh visuals while keeping the logo and colour palette consistent to maintain brand recognition.
I developed illustrations of one of my favourite subjects—food—using appetising reds, oranges, and yellows, accented with greens and purples to reflect the diversity of dishes sampled during the campaign. I paired these visuals with clear, accessible sans serif typefaces (Champion for headlines, and X?X? for body copy) so that a broad audience, including non-native English speakers, could easily engage with the materials. The materials I created helped drive participation, growing the number of restaurants from 13 in 2018 to over 70 in 2025.
The design approach resonated with both business owners and the community: "We get so many new customers during the event, not just because our food is so good," said Guy Thomas, owner of The Original Philly, "but also because it is fun to participate in Plate of Nations."
Sarah Valenta, with whom I worked on the project and who is HomeSight's Community Development director, stated that "Plate of Nations helps small businesses reach further into the communities they serve. What we hear most often from diners is that they are pleasantly surprised that Southeast Seattle has so much to offer."
In 2025 alone, the event brought over 45,000 new customers to participating businesses, generating $50,000 total for Southend restaurants.
