Evaluation

The task was to redesign a chosen brand that had to be an international company that had a shop in leeds so we could conduct primary research to inform our design I began by looking around Trinity shopping centre to see what shops I felt I could create a appropriate and refined design and a company I felt needed to be rebranded.

 After comparing the Wasabi and Yo! Sushi logo I felt that the Yo! Sushi logo seemed a bit out of date and the design defiantly needed to be refreshed to compete with Wasabi and other asian style restaurants. I then started researching the Yo! Sushi brand and what made them different what their unique selling points were and how they compared to other sushi restaurants. I looked at the various platforms the company used for the branding and where the logo would be used like websites, Facebook, twitter, instagram and in different forms of print like menu's and pamphlets. I found most of the design was on black either a black background or dark imagery. I felt this didn't really reflect in there restaurant but quite the opposite in fact the interior was mainly white, bright, colourful and playful. I wanted this to reflect in my designs and try and create a more appropriate and readable design.

I began looking at examples of poster design that used both English and Japanese typography successfully together. Analysing and reflecting on what these designers had created. Mainly using one bright colour and then simple black and white designs created a sense of unity and order in the designs even tho they were complex and would usually be complicated and difficult to read. I felt this researched pushed my ideas and helped me formulate more detailed and informed design responses.

I then began to create some designs using a similar layout to the old design using the same colour pallet but changing the typography pretty drastically to create more modern and simplistic designs. The bold San Serif photo straight away made it more recognisable and clean cut however I felt the colours tho they were the same as the old Yo! Sushi logo it didn't reflect the ethos of the brand and the fact they were serving fresh high quality sushi. We had an interim critic on our progress so far and what brand we had pricked and initial designs and research we had done. Discussing what I had done so far we spoke about the designs not really feeling right and not reflecting the brand, and that the colours seemed very bland and especially the black felt overpowering and limited the designs.

I took these comments and tried to act on them to create some more informed and appropriate branding that reflected the identity i wanted to convoy in my designs. I looked at the book 'Commercial design of Japan' to form a better basis on my designs the work in this book was a little too illustrative for this type project but helped me with colour and getting more of a feel for more traditional Japanese design techniques. I then started designing the more finalised logos with a real focus on type style, colour and spacing. These designs were much more effective and felt more refreshing and iconic. I used Din type face mainly lower can in italic to create dynamic yet simplistic typography. I began experimenting with a stencil effect on this type to add another level of detail yet trying to remain legible and engaging. I felt the final compositions were extremely versatile and would work on a range of scales as this was imperative for the branding. I experimented alot with variations of stroke and colour to find the most appropriate and consistent design using the existing Yo! Sushi colour set taken form the different dishes created great results and the colours were memorable and iconic for the restaurant. Overall I felt my work on this project grew better as I conducted more research and received feed back on my design and naturally my designs became alot more immersive and engaging by the end. I felt I created work that answered the brief and was well thought out reflected my chosen brand.