Restaurant Branding
This project was a mock restaurant rebranding of a local establishment. For the logo design, business card design, and menu design, I sought to preserve the eclectic, whimsical tone of the business.
Tools Used: Illustrator, InDesign, Binding Machine
Course: Images in Communication, The University of Texas at Austin
Deliverables: New logo, menu, and four business cards
The Vision
Ani’s Day and Night is a coffee shop/bar in East Austin. This establishment is covered in local art, and they frequently host art shows.
The business operates in a whimsical little house with an outside eating area with food trucks. This location is perfect for studying in the morning, but it comes alive at night. I wanted to create a brand identity that incorporates the vibe of the building and emphasizes the day and night aspect of both the name and the business operations.
The Process
For the sketches, I was eager to play around with different ways to incorporate a sun and moon into the logo without being too on the nose. I tested a lot of variations and experimented with adding ornamental elements. Ultimately, I was more drawn to the simpler designs. Not only were they more visually appealing, but they also incorporated more elements from the restaurant.
My finalized sketch depicts both a sun and a moon, but in a slightly more interpretive way. It feels very sharp, clean, and precise, but also charming and mystical. I was still trying to incorporate an ornamental element, so I created a frame around that plain logo. The frame design is inspired by one of the lamps hanging in the restaurant, so I thought it was a clever way to tie in a real-world element of the place.
In Illustrated, I started off by making an eight-sided star and changed the length of the arms. Once I was happy with the sun, I started to create a crescent moon to be placed in the middle. Originally, the moon was at the side of the inner circle, but I moved it to the bottom because it looked scarf-like.
For the color palette, I looked to the pre-existing branding and the tile inside the building for the green that I wanted to retain that with pinks to complement. Ultimately, I decided on four colors: dark green, light green, dark pink, and light pink. These colors were perfect because they can illustrate the idea of lightness and darkness.
