![\"Signage](\"http:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/eatingoutwithadesigner\/files\/2013\/05\/IMG_0076.jpg\")
<\/a>Signage above the door at Rebos<\/p><\/div>\n
Like some of the restaurants we have, and will, attend for our Eating Siouxland class, I had heard of Rebos but not actually been there. When I was being described to what exactly they were, this is when a red flag went up in my designer part of my brain. There didn\u2019t seem to be a consistent way to describe the restaurant and what they serve. I heard they served Mexican food, Caribbean food, Tex-Mex, or even a mix of Tex-Mex and Caribbean. Now, I realize that this doesn\u2019t sound all that confusing, but there is a big difference between just a Mexican or Tex-Mex restaurant and a Caribbean restaurant, particularly in a town like Sioux City. There are several Tex-Mex restaurants around, not just in Sioux City, but all over the place, but it\u2019s not everyday that you eat a Caribbean themed restaurant, particularly in Iowa.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Interior shot at Rebos<\/p><\/div>\n
With that in mind, I quickly browsed the web and found more of the same: a lack of consistency in how to describe Rebos. I thought that surely their website would have a nice description of the restaurant, but it didn\u2019t really tell me anything beneficial. They didn\u2019t appear to have a logo or branding on this website, nor any information that was worthwhile other than a menu, which as it turns out, is no longer up to date. It wasn\u2019t until I got to their Facebook page that I saw a description that helped describe their food. They wrote \u201cfamily owned unique restaurant offering flavors from the Caribbean, Jamaica, and Mexico. Aromas of a wood fire grill, sights of local artist and sounds of the time surround you.\u201d Not a bad explanation, but it really should not have taken me, or anyone else that long to find a decent description from the restaurant itself. Plus, I spent the time searching because I was already going there, put me in the shoes of someone who has choices and they couldn\u2019t find much a description anywhere, and they will lose interest quickly.<\/p>\n
<\/a> <\/a>Arriving at the restaurant was the first time I had seen what is Rebos logo. Outside the door, the only identifier they had was a neon sign that said \u201cRebos\u201d. Inside I saw the first logo that described the restaurant. They took the same script font and added \u201cNew MexiCaribbean\u201d and \u201cWoodfire Grill\u201d under it. Finally, a logo that described the restaurant. But there isn\u2019t much of a reason for it to be inside the restaurant. A logo is supposed to communicate to those who don\u2019t know you, so why is the first time I saw a logo that communicated what they were was when I was inside the restaurant itself? Also noticeable, and adding to the idea of a lack of consistent branding, was that this logo was the only one that I saw where the name had an apostrophe, appearing as Rebos\u2019. The logo itself really wasn\u2019t all that bad, but in the end, it\u2019s how you use the logo that really matters. The dining area was decorated okay, painted with bright \u201cCaribbean\u201d colors. One wall had paintings of fish and ocean, which added nicely to the style of the restaurant, but the back wall was painted with deer all over it, which didn\u2019t make much sense in the environment. After being seated, we were handed the menus, which I had mentioned, were not the same menus as the ones on the website. These were also underwhelming on the design side, clearly having been made with Microsoft Word\u2019s WordArt for the logo, which in the end looked nothing like the rest of their branding. Again, here they used a different tagline that I had not seen before, \u201cBig City Taste on Historic 4th<\/sup> Street.\u201d All of the text was typed up using the same script font, leading to readability issues for the paragraphs of text. It wasn\u2019t the easiest menu to navigate either, I think mostly because of the use of the same script font throughout.<\/p>\n