OUGD504 (Brief 02): Final Design & Evaluation

Here's the final outcome for the logo redesign for the Spanish restaurant that cooks traditional home made recipes that are simple, easy, and real.

Evaluation

After playing around with various alterations of the warm tones, my final choice of colours includes red and yellow taken from the spanish flag to hint at the origin of the dishes, toned down slightly from the bold hues to suggest a more organic, natural brand. This identity is reinforced through using paint as the primary medium of the design, although I feel that a possible improvement here would be to live trace or create a more solid colour (though still leaving in the gaps in the paint marks) on Photoshop rather than using a straight up scanned in image.  This would reduce the textural qualities, but would probably be more suitable for a logo, and would work better at a smaller size.

The raw qualities the brush strokes create fits well with the hand drawn text I created specifically to fit within the rhombus shaped logo.  I decided to veer away from the uppercase type and create a more friendly aesthetic to reflect the casual ambience of the restaurant, which is why I thought a joined-up, hand written version of the abbreviation would be more suitable.  Combined, this image moulds an informal tone that fits with the homely comfort the restaurant provides.

The main shape of the logo is fairly reproducible and would work well as a stamp or other easy-printing medium.  Because it fits well within a square, it would be suitable for all social networks as a small icon that is completely visible without being cropped.

I also created a black and white outlined version of the logo which could be used alternatively when colour isn't necessary or may not look right.  This takes away the brand image suggested through the colour and texture, however would be suitable once the brand has established the original as their logo as customers would recognise it nonetheless.  This would also be more flexible to use on black and white documents or at a smaller size.

I think my final design would be suitable to use on restaurant appliances and products, such as tablecloths and tableware (placemats, napkins, etc) and the brand identity could be reinforced by using only the diamond shape on decoration, for example, cutlery with an embossed/raised surface with the design.  At such a small size, the text would not be practical to replicate, however the distinct shape only might work.  This could also transfer to the decor of the restaurant, for example using the shape to create a pattern that would strengthen the identity.

Improvements

It would look better if the paint wasn't as thick in the centre, therefore revealing some texture underneath (e.g. glass or brown of the apron - or any colour of paper... etc).  With more time I could experiment with this and create a design that is more suitable for a logo.

Also, as mentioned before, creating a more solid spot colour would erase the paper texture the paint sits on and work better for a logo, as it's easier to reproduce and there's something about the final design that seems unfinished.