OUGD504 - Design for Print and Web: Restaurant Branding Research

I started looking at interiors of restaurants and also their branding to see how to incorporate a consistent brand across a range of materials.

Interiors

Expresso Hut
I like how this interior has a chalkboard wall, which would be handy for writing down the specials. However, I feel the rest of the interior is quite dull and very plain. The restaurant for my branding will be a lot busier - with bookshelves, comfy chairs etc.

Tom Aikens

I saw this wall decal and thought it would be quite fitting to do something similar because I want to incorporate my own dropcap with words/sentences. I already have a similar idea to this in the sense I want to create a bookpage using my dropcap for a pattern for the branding.

Rozzi's Italian Canteen

I picked this because I liked how there is a quote on the side of the building. I think it would be cool to do something like this for mine - either a manifesto for the cafe or some book quotes. I also thought if my cafe was in a small space, i.e. train station this is a interesting way of using the space.

Wall Art

I really like the format of the wall art here, and I think it gives a vintage feel to the place because of the hand drawn lettering and rough finish to it.

Comfy Interior

I like this interior because it looks very comfy with the warm colour scheme and big armchairs. I had in mind big armchairs like this for my own cafe because people will be going there to read books and this would add a lot of comfort to their experience.

Isuwannee

I also wanted a lot of bookcases in the interior covering the walls, for people to pick up what they like and donate books as well.

Upcycling Books

I saw this and thought it was a really cool idea to upcycle old books and use them as decoration in an interior. I could incorporate books someway into my own branding, with wall art, placemats etc. 

Cornerstone Bar and Food

This is the kind of space I envisioned for my own cafe - comfy seating, a darker colour scheme and perhaps vintage decor pieces like the lamps in this space.

Top Pot Doughnuts

Here is a cafe space which does have a bookcase in it - the customers are also reading, and this is the kind of thing I would expect in the cafe I'm creating the  branding for.

Searsucker Restaurant

I like the use of comfy sofas and rugs in this interior, but I think it is too light (wall colour, ceiling, lamp etc) and so I don't think it works that well.

Library Cafe

Now this is the kind of bookshelves I envisioned for the cafe - floor to ceiling and full of old, classic books. I feel like is still very contemporary, what with the furniture choices etc.

The Dandelion

Although this is quite busy, I quite like the charming, ornate setting.

Flag

I chose this because of the flag they've stuck up - I thought this was a good way of showing their logo within the space.

Melrose Place

I like how some of these places are putting wall decals/painting quotes onto the wall and I think it adds a personal touch to them. This would be a good idea to have in mine because it is typographically themed.

Canary Wharf

At first glance I thought the wall was a newspaper design (which would be really cool to have book pages in the branding for my cafe), but then I realised it was just white shutters. I think the wall art is great here as it is really typographical, but also seems like enlarged, old newspaper cuttings to me.

Library Cafe
After researching different interiors I liked, I then came across a term for what I want to create - a library cafe! Here are some examples that I found:

Cafe Library

Lamont Library Cafe

Bozeman

Menus
I then looked at a few menu ideas.

Founders Brewing Menu
This menu is an actual book - good for restaurants which have a large menu, and the format of it would work for mine as it is book themed, but I wouldn't need a book because the menu will be quite light.

Riso 8

I love the binding on this menu because it looks like it uses a buckram spine which is used on hardcover books and would relate well to using that in my own branding. I also think it is quite classy having that accent of black with the rest of the menu. I need to think about how to incorporate my own colour scheme across all platforms so that it is consistent.

 The Silly Goose

This menu uses a clipboard which I think is quite boring as it is seen a lot, but it also works because it means you can easily change the menu if the food changes or it gets dirty.

Die Scherbe Restaurant and Bar

I thought this was a cool idea to have it standing in a wooden stand, something I have thought about. At first I thought the flipcard menu was a cool idea, but I then thought it might be quite annoying having to keep flicking to get to the page you want.

Sciencewerk

I think this is a really cool idea because of the format the menus are on, but I then thought it is quite big and there isn't a lot of space on tables sometimes, plus flipping it could get annoying.

T=S

I love how this menu is stuck to the board by slotting into a band (probably nylon?) and this means that it is easy to change.

Oat

This uses the same idea as the previous example, but the band is horizontal which is probably better because it doesn't cover all of the menu and uses less material.

En Aparte

I thought these are quite typographically themed which is relevant to my own, and I like how the letters differentiate which menu you are looking at. Although I don't think the material is very durable because it could easily get ruined with peoples drinks, food etc.

The Pelican

I love the branding for this, and again uses the band to hold the menu in place which I think I am going to use on mine, as I have done some sketches of different menu ideas and this seems to work the best.

Madam Sixty Ate

Again this menu is in the form of a book, which could be good if you have a lot of content you need to include. What I like about this book is the rounded edges of the paper, I think thats really good attention to detail. However, if I was looking at a menu I would want to get straight into the food not look at something irrelevant when I open it.

Festningan

I think this is some really smart menu design, and you can immediately tell it is quite luxurious due to the pattern on the cover which looks hardback, and the design of the menu itself.

Fat Cow

I love this menu design for Fat Cow, as the layout of the text is very clear and easy to read, and it matches the minimal aspect of the rest of the branding. To make my menu match my branding I could use a serif font (Didot) for the headings as this will match the academic theme and the logo.

Branding
I then looked at some more branding to see how they are consistent through a variety of material. It is important that I do this so that customers can recognise the material is part of the same brand.

People
I think this branding works well across print and web because you can easily tell it is part of the same brand. This is done through use of the logo, fonts and overall design aesthetic. 

I like how they have thought about how the food would be packaged through transit as this also needs to be branded, and it matches the rest of the brand.

The menu is very simple and clear, and by dividing the sections with lines I think that it is clear to the user these are different parts of the menu.

I think the way all the of printed material is photographed together works really well with the brand as well because it is on a black background and the objects are laid out neatly which also match the layout of the design.

Urban Seed

I love this branding because it creates material that is specific to the context, such as the seedbags and the markers you stick in the ground. I thought about this for my own branding, and want to create bookmarks to use as business cards. I think creating something that is specific to the project makes it stand out more because its something different which is why I like this branding.

The Pelican

I think this is one of my favourite restaurant brandings because I think it works so well together. I love the format of the menu and the overprint on the business cards. I think it is really visually engaging, and although it uses bright colours and illustrations I think it is still easy to understand.

Provisions

This restaurant and take out branding have thought about the packaging of the food, and I thought about this for mine but then realised it isn't actually necessary because I want to create a sit down cafe, and not somewhere where you take the food out so it is made in the kitchen and therefore wouldn't need packaging for the consumer to see.

I love this sign for the shop, and I wanted to create one for my own with illuminated text so that it would stand out.

Loysels Toys

I like the branding for this cafe, and like how the logo has been used in the center of products but also on the top-left of some things - it shows me that you don't have to have it in the same place on everything to see that it fits in the same brand.

Table No1

Another piece of printed material I want to create is the note pad that waitresses and waitors use to write down orders - these are an important part of the job and are needed. Having worked in restaurants before I know that these notepads are like gold dust and get left everywhere because they are just flimsy pads of paper. For my own I was thinking of having a hardback to the pad, and the slotting the paper in a band (like I want the menus to be like), as this will make more noticeable. They could be stored in the same place as the menus, and when the paper runs out you can just refill it because it slots easily out of the band. This is also handy for when you give the order to the chef because you just pull it from out of the band.

The Handburger

I love how these serving plates are also branded because it just adds to the exclusiveness of the brand and makes you remember that part. I know that when I've been to the restaurant Reds True BBQ, I've always remembered the plates they present the food on.

Cocotte

I think this is some really nice restaurant branding, but what stood out for me is the business cards - they are printed onto the cork. This is similar to my idea for having the business cards on the bookmark - creating something specific for that brand.

Nescafe

Although this isn't for a restaurant, I thought this Nescafe branding was really good because it shows how one brand can be applied to the product, range and distribution.

Signage

I definitely want to superimpose my logo onto some outdoor signage, and I think it is a good idea to have it on similar signs to this because it is a common thing to see cafes with these and I think they're more visually interesting than signs on the facade because they stand out more.

Signage

Coffee House London

I think this is some really luxury branding and I noticed that it has a tote bag which could be a cool idea for my own so that people can put their books in it.

Roostertail

I think this is a really cool way of displaying the specials because it is easy to change and its a bit different - gives the customers something to talk about. I thought it could be a cool format for my own branding, because I could shape the boards similar to this so that the whole board would look like the shape of a book.

Snoopy Coffee

I thought this was a good idea to maybe have the logo printed in the bottom of a cup.

Ladenlokal

I love these chalkboard walls, and think it is a cool way to either add wall art to an interior, or the specials board. It could even be used to have the dropcap logo and then a page from a book in bodycopy on the rest of the wall.

Bookmarks
I want to make bookmarks for my branding which the customer can use, and also include the business card information on.

Bird
I like how this bookmark has a section of it cut so that you can slot it onto a page. I could do this so that the bowl of the G is cut and can slip into the page.

Band
I love this band idea, and I thought it would be good to incorporate that into my own because I want to use bands on the menu, notepad and placemat. However I then thought that I wouldn't be able to get any information on it so it isn't actually a good idea for my own.

Burning Bookmark
I liked this quirky bookmark because it adds a bit of humour. By having it so big, it won't get lost in the pages even though it is flat.

Thread
I thought a good way of being able to find your page again is by having thread at the top of the bookmark because that can hang out of the pages.

Shaped Top
I thought this would be a good idea for mine because I can add the G to the top which is what will stick out and people will always see the logo, and it adds a bit of difference to the bookmark.

OUGD504 - Design for Print and Web: Typography Research

As I want to incorporate a drop cap into the branding of my restaurant I want to create my own that would fit the tone of voice. I decided to look at how others are used for research. The tone of voice for my own branding I want to be quite academic and classy, as well as professional and clean.

Art of Signwriting, 1954

This is a word within a contained area, and I like the idea of having a letter contained because then it has clear boundaries and I think these are associated a lot with old books and literature. I think that is is black and white and looks quite textured also adds to the old feel.

Thomas Amby Johansen

I love this letter, because although there isn't a border around it like the last one, it is still contained with the use of shape making an imaginary boundary. Although there is no design within the letter, the curves and shape used makes it very extravagant and elegant.

Daily Drop Cap Collection

This is one of the alphabets Jessica Hische designed for the Daily Drop Cap and I love all of them. Even though they are all very different, they seem to be part of the same alphabet due to the use of colour and format. Some of them are quite contemporary (like the K and the Q) but still look quite traditional, perhaps through the use of shape and colour. My favourite letter here is the B, which I think is quite simple with the shape and the illustration within the letter, but combined it looks really elegant and decorative. 

Jessica Hische Bookcover

Some more of Jessica Hische's work, she designed these bookcovers where it is a standalone letter. I want to create the G which will stand alone on most of the branding, so I want to make sure it works on its own.

Maggie Li

These letters are quite simple as they just use block shapes and lines or circles as a pattern but they look effective because of how they are used. I think the use of shape is good on the A because it uses the pattern to make the crossbar of the A, and makes the hairline look really thin by using the lines on the right side making it interesting to look at.

Tobias Hall

Similar to the last set of letters, I think these are more grown up, probably due to the colours used and they use more shapes as patterns. I really like the L here, because with the drop shadow it looks 3D and the pattern inside the letter gives the viewer something to look at.

Daily Drop Cap X

This is from the Daily Drop Cap project, and I like how it is contained in a square. To me it looks quite christmassy because of the shapes used and reminds me of a snowflake or decoration.

David Salinas

This is a highly decorative letter, and I think it is amazing. I like the really close together lines within the letter and this is something I've noticed a lot of letters have. I think the decorative swirls around the letter make it very ornamental and pretty. This isn't something I would do for this project, 1. because I don't have the time or skill and 2. it has to work alongside normal letters and I think it would be too extravagant to fit in with them.

Decorative Letters

There is a selection of decorative letters here, and I think they are amazing and they definitely capture the viewer into looking at them. My favourite letter is the I on the second line because it uses a pattern to make the shape of the letter rather than have a solid outline and you can easily see what it is still.

Daily Drop Cap R

This is the kind of style I have in mine for my own, as it still keeps the original shape of the letter, but is made for visually interesting through a drop shadow and decorative lines. I think this would work well with my own branding because it needs to work with the rest of the word and that font, as well as work well on its own. This kind of style is very versatile.

E

I love how this letter is made up of different components to make one letter and I think it would make a really nice drop cap in a classic or fantasy book. I think this kind of thing would work for my own branding, because although it is very decorative, I could keep the width of the original letter and the serifs so it would work with the rest of the word.

Book Page

This is a dropcap shown in context, and I have an idea for a pattern for the branding which is to incorporate the dropcap I make into a real book page. I need a pattern because I need something to stick on the back of the menus and for the placemats, and I thought by putting my dropcap into context, it will fit in well with the concept and theme of the brand. 

My Fonts

Here are some ornate letters and I think they are very sophisticated and elegant. But I think something like this would make my branding seem too old-fashioned - I still want it to appeal to a contemporary audience.

Letter Alley Monogram

I think this monogram is a more contemporary style as it is very vector based and the decoration is just lines rather than ornate deocration.

Daily Drop Cap Y

This is one of Jessica Hische's daily drop caps, and I like how the thick outline exaggerates the original shape to make it more ornamental.

Illustrative Alphabet

This full alphabet is very illustrative and there is plenty for the viewer to look at, but I think it is more of a poster and something for peoples' entertainment than something I would do myself for a restaurant branding. I love how detailed and illustrative it is though.

Ornate O

This is similar to what I had in mind - the original letter easy to see, with decoration around it, but in a more contained way. But having looked at more letters now I think I will do something that is less decorative to fit in with a more contemporary style. 

5 Dropcaps

These are incredibly old-fashioned and highly ornate letters which I would expect to see in really old books and although I love this style, I think it is something I will stay away from in mine because I want to create something which is more up to date.

Daily Drop Cap

These are some more of Jessica Hische's daily drop caps, and I chose to look at them because I love the style. I love the use of lines to make patterns in the letters, outside the letters and to make up the actual letter.

Kate Forrester

I love how these letters are used in packaging, and the thickness of the letters allows the illustrations to stand out and be incorporated as part of the letter, rather than around the letter. This also allows the original shape of the letter to be seen, which I need for my own. They are for Waitrose, which is quite a upmarket supermarket, and I want my own branding to be quite upmarket.

After looking at lots of different letters and styles, I think I want to produce something that has some sort of illustrative style and difference to it, but isn't extremely decorative because I want my cafe to be clean and target academics too.

OUGD504 - Design for Print and Web: Initial Research

I decided to do some initial research based on my idea of having a restaurant in a train station or airport, or even rebranding plane food. I looked at different cafes and restaurants in airports to see how the space is used and what materials are used.

I also looked at plane food, because I would need to create some packaging.

I looked at cafes in train stations to see how these are branded and how they are advertised. Pumpkin Cafe is one that I see a lot, and so I looked at that. 

I also looked at pictures of people eating on trains, as the idea for mine is that people would eat here rather than on the station.

This is food you can get on France to Spain trains, showing that train food does get packaged similar to plane food on long haul journey's, which is what I would look at.

I looked at some typography terminology to see if it would help me think of any names that could incorporate type as well as travel and food.

I also looked at types of restaurants, as this would help me establish what mine would be called and the options there are.

At this point I then looked at more ideas, and came up with my final concept to do a cafe for people who want to do work and read, so I'm going to look at research for that now.