Merengadas

Posters

A complete brand experience for Environmental Design at Northeastern University. The project was to create a front (inspired by AMC's Breaking Bad) for an illicit activity. Merengadas is a smoothie shop operated by a fictional Mexican drug cartel. It is a front for a marijuana dispensary. The illicit activity is known by word of mouth and there is a specific procedure to procure the illicit merchandise.

The front is festively Mexican themed in its colors, patterns, and naming. A few elements subtly point to the illicit activities that happen in the back such as the strawberry leaves (which are marijuana leaves). The naming used in the shop also hints to the fact that it is a front in that there is little effort in the naming, as if the owners don't really care enough about the product to think of interesting names. Merengadas itself just means "smoothie" in Spanish. Additionally by using Spanish, it helps to mask the mundane naming to a predominately English speaking audience.

There are two kind of customers; a typical customer and atypical customer. The typical customer is not seeking illicit merchandise, and is unaware of the illegal activities that happen in the back. The atypical customer is seeking illicit merchandise and goes through a series of procedures beginning with the menu. A customer wanting to purchase marijuana alongside their smoothie will fill out a menu with a specific selection of ingredients from the "personalizar".

The customer then fills out this order on a menu and clips the payment for the drugs on the back of the clipboard. The menu is then handed to the counter staff who fulfills the order in the back of the store, not the front.

The cup used by the shop is unique in that it functions as the mechanism to carry the drugs out of the shop. Inside the cup there is a plastic insert that holds the drugs so that it does not become ruined by the smoothie.