Saturday July 25th, the Montclair State University Innovation Lab was used by an entrepreneurship team that placed 2nd in the Spring 2020 Pitch competition. The team’s company name is known as Solo’s Food, a Soul, Latin, African fusion restaurant where customers can order one meal or setup a meal plan. The MSU Innovation Lab allowed Solo’s Food to setup a pop-up shop in order to sell to potential customers within the Lackawanna Plaza area. There was also an outdoor yoga event being hosted in the park right in front of the Innovation Lab which provided more opportunities.
I was excited to meet with Diamonique Lundy and Kheyyon Parker, the members of the Solo’s Food team in person. Prior to this week, our Carpe Art team met with Diamonique and Kheyyon to offer some advice as well as gain some feedback on our site. Seeing their logo and seeing their website at the beginning stages allowed us to collaborate and offer some guidance with customer discovery interviews as well as feedback that has worked for Carpe Art and would be helpful to Solo’s Food. I also agreed to help come up with a logo for Solo’s Food and wanted to gain more input from Diamonique and Kheyyon and how their team wants to be portrayed and seen as. We discussed at the popup some different design directions and I presented my sketches to them. What resonated with me was their emphasis on being healthy and nutrient rich while maintain the flavor and the culture with their food service.
Above: displayed above are the three design directions for the Solo's Food logo redesign.
Seeing the salads and the other healthy snacks and drinks was really great to see so much so, that I had to try out the salad with chicken. Talking about the packaging and the way Solo’s Food handles their products is made so that you’re getting more than just a meal; you are taking the container to go and it is reusable! Also, the side of sauce for the salad was really great addition and made it all the better. Overall, Solo’s Food has a dedicated team with a truly nutritious product/service.
– William Crespo