GRAPHICS PATHWAY - STREET FOOD BRANDING PROJECT

I picked the street food branding project initially because I thought it had the most potential in terms of where I could take the project and the number of possible outcomes I could have. I personally enjoy street food and visiting different street food markets therefore I was already interested in the topic. In addition, the prospect of picking my own style and type of food was inviting. We had two weeks to complete the project which gave us time to research thoroughly and tweak ideas throughout the project. I firstly brainstormed a number of ideas, foods and cultures that I wanted to follow regarding my own background. I went for exotic, tropical Caribbean food classic such as Jerk Chicken, Curry Goat and other stereotypical Caribbean dishes. However on second thought, after having done a bit of research I realised that there are already a lot of Caribbean street food outlets so I thought I would go for a slightly different type of cuisine. That's when I opted for creole cuisine which is inspired by Caribbean flavours and spices but also has influences from Spain, France and resides in Louisiana, USA. For this reason I thought I could raise awareness of this vibrant and exotic cuisine because there is a 'gap' in the market for this type of cuisine.

I started to then think of some names and colours that I wanted to use in my brand. I came up with Colourful Foods, Caribbean Taste, Creole Culture and Creole Cuisine. For a large portion of the project I stuck with Colourful Foods because I believed it suited the vibrant nature of the food itself as well as the national flags of where the food comes from. However, I changed my brand name several times throughout the project just through a lack of direction and feedback from tutors which influenced my decisions.

At this stage of the project, I decided to use Creole Cuisine and experimented with
type, layouts and trialed different logos that I would possibly use. For this I used
illustrator mostly and gained inspiration for typefaces using 'Dafont'. I wanted to mix
upper case with lower case lettering as I found this had a unique effect. I initially used
different present fonts on illustrator which were good but I preferred drawing out the
lettering myself as it had a more natural feel. I was also told at the end of the project that
the handwritten fonts were much more appealing than some of the manufactured
typefaces which, on reflection, I agree with.

To supplement the project and broaden our knowledge, we were asked to pick a
 popular contemporary brand and research it to find out what makes the branding
successful in terms of the logo, colouring etc. I choose to focus on the brand 'Adidas'
as I have long been interested in the three stripes and the logo itself. I broke down some
of the essential building blocks of the brand such as the stripes and the text to determine
what makes it stand out. In my view the logo is one of the most instantly recognisable
which I think is the sign of good branding.

Following this I moved on to my own branding and experimented a bit more with the handmade fonts on Illustrator using 'Creole Cuisine' as the title. To do this I used the shape draw tool Illustrator which makes a shape out of what you draw therefore its easier to colour and outline shapes. I choose to follow the upper and lower case combination with various letters mixed up for example, cReoLE CUisINe. I then tried applying the logo to various coloured t-shirts to see how it worked. After the project in the crit session I was told that this design worked the best because it appeared natural and handmade. I think in the future I will use this technique more because I find its more rewarding than using existing fonts and its much more personal as its crafted by the user.

After getting some feedback during the project from my tutors, I thought that the title 'Creole cuisine' was maybe too vague and also after the visit to Whitecross street food market I discovered most stands only sold one signature dish rather than a collection of dishes which was what I was intending to do. This is purely because its more practical. Therefore I selected one dish that is most commonly associated with Creole foods which is a dish called 'Jambalaya'. Similar to a spanish paella this can be cooked on a large scale in one big pan suitable for a street market. Consequently, I re-thought my brand name and called it 'Jambalaya'. I then began to research the dish and find some fonts that best portray the dish and the culture. 







Once I had found a typeface that I liked and which fitted the brand identity, we had to make an A2 poster/sheet that was effectively an at-a-glance guide to our brand. I made this below on Illustrator highlighting colour ways with CMYK values, application of the brand onto t-shirts etc, some background information and a few images. We also had to create our brand guidelines including typefaces used, how to apply the brand and kerning values. This I have not completed as yet. Overall, I thought this was a successful project but also the most challenging project I have done yet because of the quantity of work needed to create a brand. Naively, I thought that a brand was maybe just a logo with some other elements but in reality, a brand is a lot more and it takes thorough planning and research to create a successful appearance. I like the appearance of my own brand however there could be room for improvement and revisiting of previous designs as my crit group preferred some of my earlier logo designs. I was also impressed by the work of my peers. In conclusion, it was a meaty project with a lot to get into and retrospectively, I could have done with an extra week.

Images  - Author's Own 06/12/13

VISIT TO THE BARBICAN - POP ART DESIGN EXHIBITION

The purpose of today's visit to the Barbican Art Gallery was to supplement our research for our street food brands created earlier on in the week. As pop art features heavily in different aspects of graphic design and branding in general, we visited the Pop Art Design exhibition which featured work from Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein amoungst many others of that post war period in the USA. Not only was there successful branding in the exhibition, there was clearly evidence of successful way finding and branding throughout the Barbican's interior. It utilises an orange theme throughout their space which really stands out with the Futura typeface making navigating the Barbican very easy. This gave us all an idea of how to make our branding consistent across all medias. I was also quite surprised at the variety on offer at the Barbican as I had never been before. The buildings and architecture are one of a kind in their concrete nature, there is a greenhouse, cinemas, theaters and overall great places to work creatively in. 

The Pop Art Design exhibition itself was very good in my view as it displayed a large amount of work that I felt was relevant to me and my own style with bold colours and clear statements. I enjoyed studying original merchandise and packaging designs from that era. There was also a pop art film which was higlighted different forms of media inspired by pop art such as the traditional Chevrolet adverts and the title sequence for Ian Fleming's 'From Russia With Love'. In addition there were many posters from the 20th century culture such as the 1986 Olympic games in Mexico and subway maps in New York which I thought was interesting.

A few sketches and artist names I recorded whilst in the exhibition

Some street art around Whitecross market

Following our tour of the exhibition and the Barbican space, we went to Whitecross market offering us a collection of street foods from around the world. This was frankly an overwhelming experience because of the amount of great aromas in the air and delicious food displayed. However the aim of this experience was to gain some inspiration and expertise from real street food brands in order to inform our own design process. This I feel did help me and I now have a idea of what successful branding looks like and how it functions in the real world. In conclusion I thought today's trip was extremely beneficial to our current project and in general because of the variety of things we experienced. The Pop Art Design exhibiton, touring the Barbican space and visiting the street market were all varied experiences and the fact did this in a day was great because we got a little taste of everything on offer in and around the Barbican.

Images - Author's Own 29/11/13