Heaven's plate: Pizzeria wants patrons to believe

Local creative agency Nice, based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has taken the ‘cult’ idea to extremes. Bumper stickers, menus and membership cards are written in a stark typeface that suggests a coded message. An all-seeing eye reminiscent of Masonic symbolism peers out from an image of a slice of pizza, displaced from its usual home inside a pyramid. Posters of Rasputin and David Koresh greet presumably brainwashed diners.

‘We are a group of pizza pioneers aiming to enlighten pizza lovers and eliminate the mundane,’ employees declare in a Glitch infomercial. Viewers are then encouraged to join the cult by paying a $150 (€114, £98) membership fee, entitling them to one free pizza per month for a year.

More brands are using instantly recognisable, stylised emblems, often with subtle occult influence. For more, see our Emblematic design direction.