Branding and Corporate Image #1

I was given a brief asking to design an identity of the Staff Bistro on the Rye Hill Campus at Newcastle College. The aim was to help promote awareness of the staff only restaurant by designing a logo, stationary and a menu for the bistro. The design I produced had to be modern and stylish with a target audience of all college staff, including executive staff and lecturers. 

Before I began to design I first took time to research branding and logos in order to get an idea of how existing companies and restaurants in particular, communicated their whole company using typefaces, colouring and layouts. I looked in depth at existing, popular logos which helped me to understand which aspects helped to make the logo successful at promoting the company and its personality.

 After my in-depth research I then began to think about my brief and how I could develop an original, successful design using inspiration from the existing companies and logos I had looked into. I settled on the name 'Rye Bistro' as although it may not sound particularly imaginative, I feel the simplicity of it meets the brief. Once my name was decided I then began sketching logos and developing them using Photoshop and producing the following designs:

In the end I settled with the final logo above. I chose this as I thought it fitted the brief guidelines as I feel it can appeal to a large target audience. The colour choice I settled with as it ties in with the scheme of the college therefore making the design fit in successfully. It is also quite simplistic making it recognisable and easily legible and I feel the use of all lower caps gives it a more modern, contemporary feel.