Japanese restaurant Ayashi
Awards:
Red Dot Award
Golden Drum, shortlist
PHNX, gold
PHNX, silver
PHNX, silver 2
A modern company specializing in the management of multi-apartment buildings. The company offers a wide range of services that facilitate the maintenance and administration of buildings, ranging from accounting and legal services to full management, staff hiring, and contractor engagement.
Task
To create a corporate identity for a Japanese restaurant, which would unmistakably make it possible to identify belonging specifically to Japanese cuisine. An additional task was to be as different as possible from the large abundance of oriental restaurants in the city and to emphasize the premium nature of the product.
Naming & Mood
For a Ukrainian person, Japan is a mysterious country and I wanted to convey this mood therefore, I proposed the name "Ayashi," which translates as mysterious, enigmatic, and astonishing.
After studying the competitors, whose design is overloaded with many elements, often with very poor composition and bright colors, it was decided to discolor the identity in order to be as different as possible and make a concise and airy visual.
I wanted to use clean, unadapted oriental graphics, because Japanese culture is very rich in symbols and has very expressive and recognizable visual images.
Personality
This restaurant is located inside a supermarket, where life moves very fast and the general picture of the environment is quite aggressive, and the decision to remove the color created a risk of lack of attention from passers-by — potential customers. So I suggested using a character — a Japanese monkey. They like to relax in hot springs — I really liked this mood from the side, the client relaxes in the restaurant at dinner.
But the question of mysterious Japan was still open. Therefore, I made the monkey more humanoid and added symbols that did not shout, but spoke to the viewer in a low voice.
Logo
I wanted to make the character the visual focal point, so I brought the illustrations to the forefront in terms of composition. Consequently, the role of the logo had to be subdued, making it a complement to the overall design. It was decided to create a lightweight typographic logo with a small symbol that symbolized the famous Mount Fuji and could be used independently from the text.
Prepress
The corporate identity has been fully implemented. Throughout the project, I actively participated in the selection of materials to bring it to life. The goal was to avoid additional expenses on consumables and ensure that the intricate and delicate design was reproduced without any deviations.
Expenses were reduced thanks to the monochromatic nature of the brand identity, and the excellent print quality achieved through color proofs and close collaboration with the printing house.
Result
The work was recognized by the juries of prestigious competitions such as the Red Dot Award, Golden Drum, PHNX, and Golden Drum. It has been featured in numerous industry publications, including packagingoftheworld.com and thedieline.com.
Furthermore, after conducting a survey, we found that 90% of our clients had a positive response. This positive feedback demonstrates the success of our work. We are delighted to see that our efforts in implementing the corporate identity have resonated well with the target audience. The high approval rate reflects the effectiveness and impact of the brand identity in connecting with and satisfying our clients.
