hunkimori freelance
intro Finishing my last year at Filton College/SGS College, in my foundation degree, I learnt the great deal of when to use the computer and not to. My tutor Malcolm told the group that “its essential a tool to your imagination, it doesn’t create the idea you do” from this I put into practice of using sketchbooks and other notation forms. This is why I wanted to test myself with this project. Hunki-Mori was a project I took up during summer 2013. I was very eager to start this Brand identity project, as I already had many ideas for the name and how I could possibly design it. This was a freelance chance to prove and challenge myself with my own schedules and management.
brief The brief was set in an email: “Hi James My colleague at SGS College Malcolm Turner has passed on your contact details to me and recommended you for a paid job I need to doing for some branding for a food business I’m setting up. I’m looking for visual design of a brand identity for my company called hunkimori. The company specializes in 100% vegan food in the form of dining and food products. I’m in the process of securing premises for the restaurant in Bristol and setting up the product side to sell at local markets. I’m looking for design for print as well as the website. hunkimori is a modern approach to vegan food and is not political in it’s stance. I’m keen to avoid any negative associations with the term vegan - let’s just call it vegan-by-stealth! Although I’m keen to focus on the sustainable, and ethical side of the business. The aim is to be as seasonal as possible with the food, as well as supporting lots of local food businesses and farmers through the products we use. hunkimori is a keen supporter of fair trade. Some words that I bandy around when talking about hunkimori are urban, contemporary, humor, funky. My market is all ages, obviously first and foremost vegetarian and vegan, but also other people who wish to eat healthier and/or reduce meat intake. The branding needs to draw them in for a new dining experience. You will see that I don’t write the name with a capital ‘H’ which is quite deliberate. I want to keep it all lower case. You can see some of the food I’ve been making on Twitter @hunkimori As I said - in the first instance the intention is to open a restaurant but I also am developing some vegan products to sell at markets such as nut cheeses, crackers and desserts. Maybe then we can have a chat about the job and discuss time frame etc. all the best”
I started off with the name as given on the brief. I needed to keep the idea fresh and easy to communicate with.
The whole concept came from my initial drawings. Rough sketches helped me think more. This was away from the internet. I wanted a complete lock out of it.
logoconcepts
I kept drawing to a minimum as I didnt want it to last that long. These drawings were from a brief couple of minutes. As the direction grew near my intensions for design grew stronger. The idea of a resturant is a key part of the design as well as the right target audience. I tried to work on symbols that would look like a plate, though this would only work once the design would be in the middle. I got to a piont where I needed more however I had a few that ideas drawn that I wanted to take further. I looked up on what it is to be a vegan eater. I knew that its a person who doesn’t eat or drink anything that is animal related, such as milk & eggs. This is the idea of healthy eating and in which I needed to reflect this. From looking over youtube videos and other work in relation to branding. I wanted to take forward one of my earlier designs.
forwardingdesign
I really liked the ideas that its not necessarily static. The balance can be flipped around. It makes it improper, hence the name of the resturant, unusal
digital
lconcept
These were mock ups that I made within illustrator . I wanted it to be as simple as possible and it didnt take me that long to remake from my sketch outs. This also shows the colour palete I was effecting as a healthy green option. But I soon figured out that it was going to be too obvious in that matter. Even in the email I got told it would be too simple. I made a very fat discion to go with the font Futura. The condensed version seemed to be the best out of the set as it had more structure towards it. The medium version made it look far to much rounded out, also I didnt like how the I’s were dotted.
early
yprintout
Printing
on
brown
paper
sent
temails
Every chance I got I sent an email, with all of my work. I made sure it was visually satisfying to support a professional person of myself. I took care and a lot oheart when into the key decsions I made. My number one rule was to keep the client informed of what is happening, ehat hanges and what stage I was on.
always
emailing
*Before
*After
*Stroke area of rendered character its more wider *Thin stoke circle to hold text as placement,eg a dinner plate,presentation of how is layed out, possibly the design could be a lot smaller in the circle?
The other design I really like was this one as well The colouring may need to be tested in a survey group. I believe these two could be the possibility
food
thin stroke (0.5pt) could be 1pt
C0 M 49.56 Y 100 K0
colour is more richer however the circle is the placement for the design
C 58.11 M 24.01 Y 5.91 K0
photoa
application
From within the original email, there was an attachment to all of the photographs available to use. I thought it would be great to apply it as soon as I got the defining image to place them as well as the font I would be using.
anotherd
design
I received another email about a logo that Chelle wanted. I agreed to this and the email stated .
“
Hi James Thanks for that I will have a ponder and get back to you. I quite like the circle idea. I’ve attached some 70s logos which I found and thought that they looked quite interesting. I don’t mind a bit of a retro feel, perhaps in the way you might treat the shape of the logo in relation to the text. See what you think. As for the question - I suppose there is a lot of green in the foods I use, but also orange, red, yellow, purple, white. I’ll also attach the menu for the pop up dining event to give you an idea of the style of food I make. I know that orange/red are considered good logos for food related businesses whereas yellow, blues etc aren’t. I haven’t ruled out green though I think that is a bit predictble. But maybe you could surprise me! I also quite like the slot machine cherry symbol which I’ve attached too. Michelle
“
I didnt really think of representing a cherry symbol with the inital ‘hunkimori’ work I previously done. However I got right to it and started from the images that was sent from the email. It was a range of vector images.
70s references
sim thin
sim thi
-Final design -
I wasn’t completely convinced at the logo but I rendered it down to something that Ive never quite seen before. I wanted the design to look funky but within the same aspects of the 70s style toygh modernerized. I got an email straight after I sent it through.
Hi James Things have calmed down a bit now! Thanks for hanging in there. The pop-up dining event was a great success, exhausting but really good - so much positive feedback too from complete strangers! Thanks so much for all the roughs you done on the logo. You will have seen that I have used the mirror image logo for our current branding just to be going on with. I hope that is still OK with you. I’ve also created a basic website using wix.com template and tools. It’s a placeholder to create a presence just until I get something more appropriate in place - www. hunkimori.com
The cherries are not really doing it for me - might be a red herring. I still think the mirror words are the best - I’ve put them in an orange circle just to tie it together but that is by no means is fixed. I’m away for a week next week but maybe we could pick up again with this when I return. Hope all is well all the best helle
website
evaluation
n
I was really pleased to work on this project. There was challenges that I managed to work on with and address in my own time. This has made me more aware of design and how I can be critical of my own work. As it was my first time working freelance, I was greatful of the oppurtunity that I had to work on this project. The work I put into this project really helped me structure out more ideas and stretch them out far.
I knew that emails was going to be the main practice. I wanted to be professional about it and on the level that it wasn’t going to be missed. I discovered that there was a lack of emails during the end of the project from the client. It seemed quite a shame that it ended in silence. The identity was created for them especiall. It some how got changed when it was uploaded on the site. I was on the website with my name on there as a check and for that I was greatful. I was shocked until the person dropped my name and I was left with only the work I done. I wish that there was a message to come to the event but sadly there wasnt. I will learn from my mistakes to send the actual file as it allowed them to render it without my help. I believe I set up a friendly service in which I was willing to work as fast as possible on. I
JamesBarrett