Doña Maíz is a concept branding project for a fictional Venezuelan food truck specializing in cachapas, fresh corn cakes served with traditional fillings and sides. The project was born from something personal: cachapas are my favorite Venezuelan dish, and I wanted to build a brand that felt like a genuine piece of my culture rather than a generic food truck concept.
Doña is a title of respect in Spanish. Warm, a little old-fashioned, earned. Maíz is corn: the soul of the dish and the soul of the brand. Together, they form a name that only this brand could have.
The challenge
To create a brand with real soul. One that could stand proudly in the food truck landscape without flattening its Venezuelan identity into something palatable and vague. Doña Maíz had to feel warm, proud, and modern all at once. Familiar to the diaspora and inviting to anyone who had never heard of a cachapa before.
The concept
At the heart of the brand is Doña herself: an illustrated character mark whose corn husk hat tells you exactly who she is before you read a single word. She's the bridge between my background as an illustrator and the brand design discipline this project set out to demonstrate. Rather than treating illustration and branding as separate skills, Doña Maíz was an opportunity to show how they can strengthen each other.
