A restaurant’s image is crafted both in and out of the kitchen. Anna Polonsky, the French founder and director of the New York-based Polonsky & Friends studio, takes care of the “out” – everything customers usually see first. This is the visual identity, from the logo on the menus to the decoration inside and outdoors. Polonsky’s role as creative director focuses on both restaurants and other food professions, and she works with clients based in the United States, London, and France. “I have a hard time translating my job title into French, as directrice créative sounds like I’m showing off,” says the talkative, passionate thirtysomething. “But that term best reflects what I do. I’m not a designer, a writer, or a decorator, but I suggest creative ideas and bring together teams to make them a reality.”

Based in Bushwick, a Brooklyn neighborhood in the throes of gentrification, Polonsky & Friends shares its offices with Ostudio, a coworking space for creatives which turns into a restaurant and wine bar in the evenings, and FefoStudio, the atelier headed up by Anna Polonsky’s husband Fernando Aciar, an Argentinian chef and ceramicist. This blend of genres is entirely in keeping with her “panoramic” vision for the company – drawing on graphic and interior design to build brand strategies. This approach has been successfully applied to a pizzeria in Little Italy (Sofia’s), a Lebanese ice cream shop in the Marais in Paris (Bältis), a brand in the Washington D.C. area that sells saffron grown by Afghan women (Moonflowers Co.), and a winery owned by Domaines Barons de Rothschild in Southern France (Domaine d’Aussières).

While the advice Anna Polonsky gives restaurateurs has little to do with the dishes or the menu, the designer has a knack for spotting talented chefs. Last spring, three of her clients – Claud, Txikito, and Falansai – were featured on food critic Pete Wells’ 100 Best Restaurants in New York City list for The New York Times. On the other side of the Atlantic, the studio has also developed the visual identity for Le Doyenné, a restaurant opened by two Australians at the Château Saint-Vrain, located some 30 miles south of Paris and recently named “best restaurant” in France by the Le Fooding guide.

In an ironic twist, it was while working for Le Fooding that Anna Polonsky found her calling. After graduating from Sciences Po, she started her career in this unique media outlet launched in Paris in 2000 by journalist and food writer Alexandre Cammas. The publication – whose name is a mix of “food” and “feeling” – soon carved out its own niche by appealing to a young, partygoing readership interested as much in the atmosphere ofeateries and the personalities oftheir chefs as what was on the plate. Anna Polonsky joined as an intern working with the guide’s editorial coordination team while completing her studies. “I didn’t get much sleep,” she says. “But it was worth it because I learned so much, from working with chefs and managing a team to collaborating with artists and illustrators.” Hired after she graduated, she first managed sponsors and Le Fooding events, which helped to promote the guide. “In the past, food events were restricted to old-fashion tasting sessions. In this way, the guide was among the first to do what everyone has now adopted, inviting different chefs, putting on live music, and playing around with visual elements and staging.”