After myself and Alex decided to extend the Toast Cafe brief, we got our heads together and decided who our target audience was and the approach we were going to take.
As toast has been around for generations we found that it brings comfort and happiness to peoples lives, we wanted to take the approach of when people drop their toast it always lands face down, therefore naming the brand 'Butter Side Up' creates more of a sense of optimism and happiness. From the research I had gathered it became apparent that the consumption of tea and toast has declined in the UK for the past few decades. It left a gap in the market for our brand so we want to address our target audience in a friendly and approachable manner, as toast is something everyone can make at home the cafe must offer something quick and affordable for people to grab on their day to day lives.
We decided between us that the brand identity must have a sense of optimism and comfort. Wood signifies a homely aspect to brand whilst simple vector illustrations with a warm yellow bring the optimistic element to the brand.
We both separated and spent time to try come up with a logo. Unsure what would work and what wouldn't I experimented with different hand-drawn type to see if it had more of a friendly approach, I also experimented with the word 'UP' as both letters joined together formed a mug which could fit the type on top or inside. However, we agreed that it communicates a cafe too much and we were supposed to be promoting a toast cafe instead therefore it needed more relevance to toast.
This was the logo Alex had created and to which we both agreed was the strongest. The layout of the type resembles a square which signifies the shape of toast, it engages the audience and adds an element of fun and optimism. The type selected was Raleway heavy, we thought the san serif type had a more approachable and friendly element. It's bold enough to not loose legibility on different media without being too in your face, the softened terminals help make the type loose less rigid and harsh. The 'e' was slightly rotated to resemble a happy face fitting with the happy and comforting theme.
After deciding on the logo and the aesthetic we were after we then decided what other media we have to create to create the brand:
- Tray
- Cup
- Takeout
- Signage
- Menu
- Icons
- Business cards
It was then up to me to create some icons. I took to illustrator and traced over different foods such as Heinz beans and Marmite, it took some experiments to get to something that resembled the different foods in a simple and illustrated way. After showing Alex the designs we thought that they were too illustrated and needed less colour and more of a simplistic approach.
Reducing down the details on the illustrations helped get more of an idea of how this would be presented. The different toppings looked more like condiments for toast rather than realistic illustrations of toast with toppings on. We also decided at this point that it would be beneficial to use icons that represented other things found in a cafe such as coffee, tea etc.
Above are the finished icons which we thought were the strongest. Taking a minimal approach and using vectored icons help communicate what the cafe has to offer in a simple and understandable way, the colour yellow has also been used across the icons as it offers an element of optimism and happiness which is the atmosphere the cafe wants to create.
We then wanted to take the icons and create a repeat pattern for the tray. Trying different ways to use the icons we decided that the pattern that worked best used all the icons. The others that only used the condiments or the utensils we found looked overcrowded and lacked interest which did not represent the cafe.
Once decided on the repeat pattern we assigned ourselves different tasks to ensure we would stay on target for our timescale. Alex made the tray and business cards and I made the menu and the patterned tracing paper.
I began developing the menu with the same simple aesthetic as we wanted to communicate to the customers that the cafe service offered efficiency with comfort without fuss. The first column shows the type of bread with the numbers representing the colour of the toast, although after much discussion we decided this would confuse the customers and would not work. Going for a three column grid helped space the information out and form a sense of hierarchy for the eye to follow.
For the back of the menu I developed the icons to make a tile pattern with different colours. We found that the 3 x 4 grid worked best as presented more of the icons making it more visually excited, Alex suggested trying different colours however we found that it did not fit with the white and yellow theme we had for the brand.
Below is the chosen design for the back of the menu, using a simple colour scheme of yellow and white. The icons communicate the cafe in a simple and effective way.
Myself and my partner both decided the menu looked too bland and lacked excitement. We tried a different layout and reversed the colours on the page making the yellow the background colour. Still we felt that it lacked a hierarchy and was hard to understand the content.
Alex prepared the business cards that would be available in the cafe, we wanted to keep is consistent and fit with the brand making it have a little amount of information but enough to stay in the minds of the audience.
Alex then proceeded to make the tray which the toast would sit in alongside the patterned tracing paper. The tray needed to fit on just one hand to make it easier for the customer to consume the toast therefore the size was large enough for the toast but small enough to fit on one hand.
