Once I was happy with the name 'Comma' for my restaurant, I began to think about what type of cuisine I wanted my restaurant to be. My first instinct was to research into the origins of the word 'comma' itself. I discovered that the word derived from 'Koptein' - Greek for 'cut' this then became 'komma' - a greek word meaning 'piece cut off, short clause'. As the word obtained Greek origins, I thought it made sense to focus my design around Greek cuisine.
For the initial developments of my logo, I wanted to keep the design minimal. The key elements I wanted to include were:
-- A comma - text as image
-- Clear restaurant name
-- Colours of the Greek flag: white & blue
-- Possibly incorporate Greek designs
One of the first logo attempts is shown below. Although it included all of the elements I considered essential, I found the outcome dull and lazy. The image below was created using Didot for both the large comma and also the Restaurant name.
As an experiment to create a more interesting logo, I began drawing vector lines to resemble Greek designs. I kept to the blue and white colour scheme as I thought the white worked nicely as negative space in contrast to the blue.
I also tried a few experiments using a circle for the logo as shown below.
The pattern I created was appropriate to the restaurant concept due to its Greek-like aesthetic. I also liked the subtle way the beginning of the spirals resembled small commas.
After deciding the logo worked best as a comma shape, I began implementing and re-sizing the spiral pattern to see how it looked at an alternative size.
I wanted to keep the text as legible as possible as this would need to be easily read on a wide range of media and scale. One of my attempts to enhance legibility was to include a white strip dividing the text from the background surrounding the restaurant name. This proved to be effective and allowed to me to focus on editing the type to its best potential.
Below is an image of where I attempted to create my own comma 'tail' in Illustrator. However, the outcome was not as effective as the original comma.
As a result of this, I returned back to my original idea and tried to keep the logo as minimal as possible. I experimented with different combinations of both the plain blue, white and occasionally also the pattern effect.
As development at this stage, I also decided to change my typeface. The new font I found (shown below) was from dafont.com I liked the bold, yet narrow character of this typeface. It was also clearer and therefore more legible (particularly capitalised) which was another key reason to continue with this typeface instead of Bodoni.
For the final logo (shown below), I kept a small gap above and below the Restaurant name to increase the legibility. The logo is simple, but includes subtle symbolism of a sanwhich/ burger filling. The logo also represents 'taking a break' due to its white bar breaking up the Comma image. I have used blue and white to resemble the colours of the Greek flag. This colour scheme, along with brown paper will ideally be used throughout.
I then began thinking about how this logo could work across a broader spectrum.
Possible website pages - in no particular order.
These were to potentially work as buttons for my website. Although the concept was evident, clear and self-explanatory, I wasn't sure this logo was going to work as effectively on a smaller scale. This was due to the text becoming very small in comparison to the logo itself.
_________
After thorough thought about my previous decisions, I had started to become less keen on a Greek restaurant and felt more drawn towards working with an American Diner instead. After speaking to a few of my Peers about this, they all agreed that there was more scope to work with if I were to go down the American diner route.
I noticed that the logo itself already subtly resembled a burger - the type being the the burger filling. This was a fun and appropriate aesthetic to the outcome I was now aiming for. The logo also reminded me of Pacman, who conveniently eats his way to winning.. just like a burger would be something to celebrate eating in an American Diner.
As I was now working with an American aesthetic in mind, the first consideration I took into account was the incorporation of red. This simple but striking addition was the perfect addition to the previous blue and white. The task was then to get the ideal balance of red, white and blue (the colours of the American flag).
To extend my idea further, I wanted to see what the comma would look like placed opposite another comma. I imagined it to form a heart shape.
The outcomes are shown below. Although the heart shape was not particularly noticeable or effective, it was enough to deliver the concept of love, without losing the comma image. With this, I began thinking about 'Dinner for Two' and 'Two Can Dine' concepts. This was to be aimed at couples looking for a special two-course meal, adding something special to an occasion. The designs I constructed in Illustrator are shown below..
Originally, I worked with type, keeping the commas as the only form of 'type as image'. However, over time i started to notice the face-like shape which had been formed from placing the commas together in this manner. One of my peers also noticed the resemblance of American road signs. These were all beneficial bonuses for justifying my design choices. This inspired me to experiment with designing a woman figure through experimentation with facial features. A few of these are shown below.
The image above (left) was the character I was most pleased with. Not only was she constructed purely from two commas, the heart shape still remained, and theres was also the underlying bonus of a reference to American road signs. In order to define the hair, and to add a slight three-dimensional element to the character, I used a lighter tint of the blue for the right-hand comma. I was really pleased with this outcome, and decided to continue using this throughout the rest of my design processes.
At this point, I had not considered using the female comma character as my logo, as I was still considering my previous design. I wanted to somehow incorporate the two together. However, after presenting my logos to a group of my peers in our final print and web crit, it was suggested that this would work better as a logo. The character received a really positive response from the group. This caused me to realise the impact that this could have as a logo, and I was keen to push this further to form a strong sense of branding and identity.
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