Thursday, 21 October 2010

Wall Mural - First attempt


My wall mural is built up by the individual illustrations that i have designed. These have then been duplicated, creating a fun and eye catching pattern. I am pleased with the overall look and think that it would fit in well with the Yo! Sushi style with its uniqueness.


In my previous posts I have said that my mural will be vibrant in colour. This I think is going to change as the mural in black and white looks just as powerful as it would if in colour. I have tried out some of my illustrations in colour and think that it would make the mural look childish and to cluttered.

Below are some examples of my coloured illustrations.





Tuesday, 19 October 2010

More of my illustrations

Since my last blog entry I have been developing ideas for my wall mural.






Big Ben
Just like the illustration I did for the London Eye, I have played on the the name of the London landmark called Big Ben. Straight away my first thoughts was to turn it into a character with power and strength. To show this I decided on adding a pair of muscle arms and a large, heavy chain around his neck. This all connects very well together and shows a sense of  power. I wouldn't mess around with Big Ben if i was you.





Tourist Camera
Tourists in London go photo crazy when sight seeing around the city. So i decided to play with this factor and make the camera home to a small, photo thirsty monster. This monster is hidden away inside the camera lens where you can just see it's wide eyes and razor sharp teeth. I then decided to give the illustration a pair of zombie like arms to go with the whole monster theme. I think this works really well and completes the illustration.






Theatre Masks
London is well known for its theatre plays down at the Westend. To show this i went straight for the traditional theatre masks, showing the emotions of happy and sad. I wanted to emphasis on these emotions, so made the facial features more distinctive. I then decided on  placing a tear drop underneath the eye of the sad mask to emphasis the emotion. This further developed into me giving the tear drop a character of its own, making it to have the sad emotion on its face. To balance the illustration out i then added a small sun underneath the eye of the happy mask to emphasis the emotion of happiness. 


With this illustration i was thinking of maybe adding two hands at either side of the masks. One giving the thumbs up and one giving the thumbs down. This is because i feel as though it is missing something compared to all the other illustrations i have done so far.




Telephone Box
 I wanted to step away from the tradional looking phone box, so decided on turning it into an alien like creature. To achieve this I turned the phones into tenticals and gave the design similair characteristics to some of my previous illustrations.






The Gherkin


London Underground











Thursday, 7 October 2010

Yo! Sushi Interior

In March 2010, Yo! Sushi re-opened one of its outlets in London at the County Hall location, after undertaking a refurbishment. The outlet then became retro themed, following the colour scheme of oranges, browns and greens. These colours were then accompanied by large oversized lamp shades decorated with the patterns of Japanese trees and swirling motifs. This interior was designed by Philip Watts Design.



Knowing that Yo! Sushi already have a retro themed outlet, i now know not to go down that route and to use an alternate scheme. The scheme that i am aiming for is a funky, modernistic and vibrant outcome, which is totally the opposite to this one.

Yo! Sushi - Website

Screen Shots



Here are some screen shots of the Yo! Sushi website. Straight away we get the impression that they are going for a clean and new look. This is down to how tidy and well laid out the site is. The fact that they have used a san serif typeface adds to the modernist look, rather than a serif typeface.


On this screen shot of the website we can see how it says "How to Yo!". This stands out to me as they are trying to be quirky about the way they get their customers to try out their food, making it seem a more fun and exciting place to eat. Also on this screen shot we can see it explaining about the different cost of plates, which again is new and individual. 




The colour scheme of the website is mainly built up out of vibrant, eye catching colours. Some of these can be seen in the Yo! Sushi logo. Helping the Website and logo connect well together.

Yo! Sushi - Brand Report


Yo! Sushi’s attitude to design is seen by many as radical.  Instead of all their outlets being designed in the same corporate scheme, the company is rebelling, by designing each outlet in its own individual style.

The company is unique in several ways, such as the way in which food is delivered to its customers on a moving conveyer belt.  The way the cost of the meal is calculated is also very different to other restaurants, where colour coded plates show the varying cost of the Sushi.

Yo! Sushi’s logo is vibrant, eye-catching and is clearly designed to attract a younger customer base.  The logo complements the fresh food and clean modern decoration.  

The city that I have chosen for my Yo! Sushi! Restaurant is London.  I have chosen London because it is the capital city and there are a large variety of iconic landmarks, such as The Houses of Parliament, Bucking Palace and The London Eye that could be incorporated into the design scheme.   I have chosen London as this will give me the most variety and creativity to play with considering the famous sights and the history behind them.  The cityscape of London is unmistakable and is recognised across the world. 

Jared Nickerson is the illustrator that I have gained my inspiration from for the style of my wall mural.  This is because his work has a fun, fresh vibe to it with his extremely imaginative thinking and unique character designs.  The aim of my mural is to include a range of London landmarks, but then for them to have its own quirky twist.  This updated cityscape will form the main section of the mural which will be used on promotional materials and menus.

The target audience mainly consists of 18-25 year olds and therefore I am going to design the interior in a funky, modern and vibrant scheme.  The aim of the design is to make Yo! Sushi! a memorable place to eat, where you can enjoy fresh, tasty food in a very modern and well styled surroundings.

Monday, 4 October 2010

Yo! Sushi - In General

After jumping straight into the illustration style and city choice, lets look at the Yo! Sushi brand in detail.

The Yo! Sushi brand are very radical with their designs. Instead of having a corporate interior for each restaurant, such as Mcdonalds. They are wanting each one to have its own individual style/theme. The company its self is unique in several ways, such as the way in which food is delivered to its customers on a moving conveyer belt. The way the cost of the meal is calculated is also very different to other restaurants, where colour coded plates indicate the varying cost of the sushi.





Yo! Sushi's logo is vibrant, eye catching and is clearly designed to attract a younger customer base (18 - 25 year olds). The logo complements the fresh food and clean modern decoration, with its clean typography and vibrant colour scheme. 




Further on in my blog i will be looking at the Yo! Sushi website and existing interior designs.