The making of the Yakitoriya logo and corporate identity

We are presented with the most interesting task: to refresh the Yakitoriya logo.

There are lots and lots of Japanese restaurants in Russia today, so it makes sense to study the competition before we start. Building up a collection of logos. The number of red circles is off the chart.

Art director: Not surprising. But that shouldn’t discourage us, there are many companies who simply stole the Yakitoriya’s identity. So I think moving away from the red circle would be wrong. The same goes for the roof-shaped arrow.

To start, we create a couple of transitive alternatives, thinking how we can refresh the current logo and keep it recognizable. But there is no stopping the designer.

The art director chooses three potential directions.

Artistic director: Let’s create one where it’s like a piece of caviar stuck in the corner of a mouth.

Drawing it.

Artistic director: Not irritating enough. And looks more like a baby’s dummy.

Artistic director: Are you avoiding the O on purpose :-)?

Designer: How about these, are they irritating enough for you?

Artistic director: Number 1. Irritate me with the location of the dot.

Designer: Personally, I’m always irritated when it touches the edge. How about you?

Artistic director: For me it’s the worst when it almost touches it.

Choosing the most irritating one. Presenting the options to the client.

Client: Damn, that’s just not what we want.

Art director (to the designer): Let’s keep on working, get out your design gun.

Getting it out.

Art director: Let’s make a series based on the circle in the center. Each restaurant would have it’s own sign but they will be graphically connected.

Sounds cool. Drawing different characters.

The client likes the circle idea, but it needs to be checked for originality.

Looking for similar designs ourselves and finding them.

Artistic director: It’s just a coincidence, we can still work with this design.

Developing it further.

The client replies that the result looks too childish. He asks to remove the colors and to draw only the outline of the rounded square so it looks more like a sushi roll.

Client: The plastics is better, but now the logo resembles a series of characters and doesn’t look serious. We would like a simple circle in a square, but there are lots of similar designs alrady.

Art director: That’s natural: the simpler the shape, the more similar designs there are. It’s evident that the most simple solution wouldn’t cut it this time.

The designer goes away to think about the logo from scratch and sends over more alternatives.

Choosing a few to present to the client. The type designer draws the calligraphy.

Presenting.

Client: Nope, all too simple and unemotional.

Part II