This is my design solution for the rebranding of Kenzo Ramen, a Japanese restaurant chain based in Canada. The branding materials I created were: company logo, stationery, brand style guide, applications, website, app UI, and an animated campaign ad.
/ BRAND DISCOVERY & CREATIVE BRIEF /
BACKGROUND. Kenzo Raman is a Canadian based, authentic Japanese Ramen noodle restaurant. The type of food they sell are ramen/noodle, donburi/rice and side dish. Traditionally, ramen shops tend to specialize and serve only one or two types of ramen but here at Kenzo, they offer a plentiful variety of different types of ramen from different regions of Japan to cater to the taste buds of their considerably multicultural citizens of Toronto.
OBJECTIVES. The objective is to create a rebrand of the restaurant with a new identity that generates positive emotions and favourable awareness in the marketplace. It is also to develop a brand style guide, application of the logo, website, mobile app and an animated campaign ad that all continue the aesthetic of the new branding.
TARGET AUDIENCE. Their target audience is whoever is in love with Japanese food, specifically ramen. The price point is mid-range.
/ CHALLENGES & DESIGN SOLUTION /
RESEARCH. After the learning about the client, I did more research about their competitors as well. Based on the competitive analysis, I could learn about their patterns and think about creative solutions that would help Kenzo stand out from the crowd. I then found more relevant online inspirations which helped me creating moodboards.
DESIGN SOLUTION. To ensure clients recognize and understand Kenzo Ramen's vision, the logo has designed to connect with the target audience and to standout among other Japanese restaurants. I wanted to make the brand more simple and modern, diverging from many other existing Asian restaurants’ brands by using the colours red, black, and typefaces resembling brush strokes. I was inspired by the imagery of a bowl of ramen, colour red and salmon pink.
LOGO/BRAND DEVELOPMENT. Kenzo Ramen logo comes with multiple variations: horizontal, stacked and icon. The primary (horizontal) and secondary (stacked) logos are composed with a bowl of ramen symbol and the name “Kenzo Ramen” in both English and Japanese. Since the brand is catering towards locals in Canada, the name is written in English as the main focus. The Japanese is added to represents the culture that the food belongs to. All variations can be used in all settings. The icon of a bowl of ramen is made up with eleven circles in different sizes. Additional graphics can be added to anywhere in close proximity with the icon or full logo. The graphic should be a red circle, as it represents sun appears in the Japanese flag. The circle shapes should be in the sizes of the eleven circles made up the logo.
COLOURS & TYPOGRAPHY. The brand uses a modern colour palette that stands out from most of the other Asian restaurants with neon red and black. Four main colours are red, salmon pink, black and white. Red is used as the main colour as it is considered the colour of luck. The main typeface for branding is DIN Next Pro and it was slightly modified to go better with the icon. DIN is a modern sans-serif typeface and is very flexible and it comes with variations of styles from ultralight to black and condensed. They can be used in all settings.
BRANDING MATERIALS. I also created other branding materials including stationery (business card, letterhead and envelope), applications of the logo (signage, menu, takeout bag, chopstick wrapper and uniforms) and a simple website interface and mobile app for reservation and online ordering. The designs contained logos, brand elements, contact information, other contents and they followed the brand typography and colours.
ANIMATED CAMPAIGN AD. Kenzo's mascot character design was inspired by the brand's original logo icon. The character was designed to appear more friendly (he looks grumpy in the original design) and stylistically suit the rebrand's aesthetic. The short animation consisted of six scene and was made for the Christmas event.
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