The final exercise in the Core Concepts course is based on the branding of the company, which consist of brief and special requirements from the customer. That exercise could potentially join some of the vital knowledge that was gained through that course, such as branding, logo identity, font, brief, colour and illustration. I quite like The French Hen naming itself, it has the creativity and also it giving some inspiration to produce appealing designs.
Researches
To start with, I went on the usual route by creating the Mood Board on Pinterest. I aimed to collect a few types of images that would help me to visualise the future brand. First of all, I searched for some pictures of modern pubs and restaurants, and it helped me to get that feel of a presentable place where young people would have the joy to visit. Also, I went through some ideas for the image of hen itself, as the brand has the determination to attract young men and women, I didn’t want to go cartoony with the images search. I tried to look for some images of the hen that would provide me with some ideas about how that hen could look like; however, I would still have to adjust it. I liked that idea of looking for some images of hen, and it should give some warm and welcoming feeling, and using it with some French accessorises could help to bring some style into it.
I noticed that many those kind of respectful places using dark and contrast colours for their branding, mostly shades of burgundy, dark green, dark blue, brown colours in addition to golden and metal patterns into it. I thought it creates the right mood for that kind of space. However, my Mind Map and sketches were not ready yet, so my ideas could lead me into the different rout.
Sketches
The next step was to produce the Mind Map with some keywords and sketches for my designs. I went through some ideas for future designs based on the principle of the more associative words is better for the final decision. The brand should attract sophisticated men and young woman, so the logo should bring the feel of elegancy, classy, style and contemporary mood. If I go back to my first ideas clearly, it can be seen that the image of Hen with French style could work immensely well for this brand. I imagined such key identity elements as French flag colours, accessories as a scarf or stripy clothes, plus a playful beret on the head of that Hen, could be the right addition into the brand. I didn’t know what shapes of form would be, so I desperately needed to proceed to the sketches.
For the first sketch, I used the illustration of the sitting Hen on the letter “F”, where I tried to visualise the similarity with a bird on the nest. For the French, I used handwritten font, and for Hen just capital letters. I thought while I was making sketches for the Hen, would be useful to create some diversity of fonts as well, so I could choose which one works the best. Next design was just an image of the walking big proud Hen in the stripy French top, I liked the sketch itself but was not sure if it’s going to work for the logo, as it had too many details on it, such as feathers, fluffy tail etc. Clearly, from my sketches can be seen I tried to produce as many variations of the Hen as possible, that was the only way how to find the right bird for the logo.
Also, I tried some options based only on the font itself. It could work in some occasions, but that to create the memorable image I would instead use the sketch of the Hen as well. For one of the drawings, I tried to use not the full body of the bird, but only some key elements, such as the beak and using only the top body, that how was born the idea of using the image of the Hen in the hat and little French scarf around her neck. In addition to my sketches, I created the kind of label placement of the logo and name, with some new words as ‘Established 2020‘ and the definition’ discerning drinking‘ around it.
On top of the emblem, I placed the image of the Hen with fewer details, just with an outline. That design helped me to picture the future light-box for outdoor advertising. For future adjustment, if the brand would want to use some stickers on their drinks, that could go quite well also. Some of my extra options had the colour combinations from the French flag, such as blue and red, with some white colour, but that was under consideration still, as full-coloured print could be tricky to design for the light-box or the outdoor signage. In regards to type selection, I was looking into the font combination option, like handwritten font with a saint serif font, or calligraphic font with serif fonts, depending on the design I was going to produce.
Logo Design
In the next step, I have already started developing the logo itself in Adobe Illustrator. I showed my sketches to my family, and after some consideration, they all agreed that the idea of the hen with beret and scarf could work for this logo brand. Therefore, first I traced this logo into the vector, keeping the angle of the hen and font ideas. But at the same time, I tried quickly to draw some images of the geometric hen with embedded letter ‘F’ inside of it. However, I didn’t think it could be suitable version, as the geometric based picture could provide the wrong impression of the brand, as I wanted to walk away from any sort of fast food association for that logo. I visualised that hen logo in the different colour variations, playing with the deep blue and red colours. Underneath my sketched hen, I designed some extra options for the hen shape. I think I had some genius idea which came into my head later, where I added some additional elements into the hen logo, such as little wing with a glass of wine, and the leaf of the ferns next to it. I was not sure about the shape of the head of that hen, as it slightly reminded me a pigeon, but I thought it would be great to join those two images together and create an upgraded logo for this brand.
For the article ‘The’ I used neat calligraphic font AdornSPomander, for the name ‘French Hen’ I used serif font AmbroiseStd, and also for the ‘Est2020’ I chose narrow san serif font Avenir Next Condensed. From my point of view, this font combination created classy and elegant writing which I was aimed to achieve.
Further down from my logo design development could be seen that I tried to play around with some colours for this logo. I tried the combination of the full coloured logo on the blue background, dark green, also I tried to use just one colour fo the logo, naming and contrast colour fo the experience. I liked that full coloured option of hen on the blue background. However, I was not quite sure how I could implement it into the restaurant branding; therefore, I was considering whether I could use one coloured logo brand and contrast background for it. For example, I could still use my planned dark blue colour. For the logo, I decided that I would go for some variations, like salmon colour for the logo (I decided to go away from using solid red, as it could be too flashy) besides with blue colour, and alternatively some golden elements.
Ready Mockups
As I chose the essentials of the branding such as logo, font, and colour scheme, later I proceeded to mockup designs. Here I faced with the task of finding the right mood in the branding design for the restaurant. To begin with, I placed a full-colour copy of the logo on watercolour paper, a chicken in an elegant hat with a curl, a glass of wine and a traditional flag looked elegant and smart, which is what is needed for this kind of establishment. It is as if she raises a glass and invites visitors to taste the local drinks. So for the sign, I chose a blue rag roof, on which only the name of the establishment was spelt out in white, while on the light-box I placed the chicken logo in blue, taking as a basis a circular composition with the designation ‘Discerning Drinking.’
Since it was inconvenient to place the chicken logo on the ragged roof, I had an additional option to set the full version on the light-box. For this option, I have chosen warm shades of cream and have already used a dark blue on top for the lettering and logo. It seemed to me that this is the right colour combination for readable text.
Also, I made a design for a business card featuring a cosy French village in blue shades with the word ‘Bonjour’. For the element on the window, I chose the name of the company in golden colour ‘The French Hen’.
For the drink coasters, I also used a warm shade of red-orange for the logo, and on the back, I used a blue background with the fern leaf and a glass of wine. For the phrase ‘Drink Responsibly’ with decorative font Copperplate, I used just outline for this font, in the result this font created a kind of right combination with the logo.
Then I tried to maintain a specific colour composition. In my subsequent branded products, I introduced additional combinations; for example, for the menu cover, I chose a rich dark blue colour. At the same time, I depicted chicken using golden foil using the embossing principle. Inside the menu, I made it according to the direction of a book, placing the text in salmon colour on cream sheets of paper. In the corner, I have put a small illustration of a vineyard. Text for the menu I used modern narrow sans-serif font in Acme Gothic Condensed Bold and Regular.
I chose a white T-shirt for the service staff’s signature clothing and placed the full company logo on the left side at chest level.
This is an additional version of the logo on the black background. Personally I would prefer white t-shirts, but as an option it could be as an alternative, for example black t-shirts for male staff. On the back of the t-shirt the bigger scale could be used as well.
For the napkin design, I followed the alternation principle, where I staggered four symbols:
- the letter F (French)
- Letter H (Hen)
- The Ferns leaves
- Glass of wine
I was pleased with the result.
Reflection
In conclusion, I would like to say that I enjoyed the process of creating the logo for ‘The French Hen’ and its branding. It took me longer to process the ideas and the brand style itself than I thought it would do, but the is a reason for it, as I wanted to create an impressive visual with unique colours and technics. In the result I got quite a strong identity for the restaurant, it has a feel of lively, young, open place, but at the same time with some elegancy and elements of chic into it. I made my choice based on intuition, like that place should have deep shades, where I chose dark and rich blue, but at the same time, I used some fresh shades of orange-red and creme colour. Ideally, it would be better to do more researches into colour combinations, maybe make some analysis how colour affect your wish for drinking or eating, or how to create a relaxing atmosphere by using just a colour. Still, mainly I concentrated at the general feeling of the place, to make it welcoming, open and modern, but with some classy elements. In the result, I think a potential customer would see in it the right direction for brand development.
Eleonora's Art Blog 