Designer Statement

Food is necessary for survival, a cultural staple, and is defined by religions, borders, heritage, and personal taste. We are, inherently, what we eat. Food says much about who we are as people. The evolution of taste is directly related to the evolution of the human species. Throughout the history of man, food and taste have been centered around the tools and techniques used for consumption. Modern society has applied science to modify our food for shelf life, therefore sacrificing nutrition for monetary gains.
This sacrifice of nutrition has inspired me to create a restaurant concept centered around healthy fast food that is consumed with your hands. Often, I am frustrated with fast food chains when I need to grab a meal on the go, but my only choices give me no hope of a healthy option. I know that time is of the essence in this age, but I don’t feel that one’s health should be sacrificed for it. The name, Modern Monkey, is based on the notion of the evolution of man as well as our evolution of taste. While we keep progressing as a human race, I feel that the way we eat needs to regress back to the basics of nutrition.
Also, sustainability interests me, therefore my materials and restaurant plan are all environmentally conscious. I don’t understand why people don’t see the importance of keeping our planet healthy and productive for future generations. This is what inspired me to make this restaurant all about sustainability, not only environmental sustainability, but also investing in the power of community and the local farms. From the building design down to the cups and napkins, this restaurant is all about renewability of our biggest asset, nature.
My process consisted of a large research component focusing on current trends in cuisine and restaurant design, culinary experimentation, and lots of sketching. I also applied my knowledge of design to develop the exterior design of the restaurant as well as the branding and materials.


Please leave feedback if you feel that I am missing something.

Proofs at Richardson's

So I went today to check my proofs at Richardson's Printing and they look great!!! I am SO relieved! The colors are a little bit darker since the surface underneath is not white but it didn't bother me at all and gave it a lil more of the healthy/ organic feel that I wanted while still keeping this very modern design. I plan on picking them up on Thursday or Friday so I am very excited that things are coming together! one less stress on my mind... now back to work

To paint, or not to paint

So Megan made the suggestion of possibly painting the wall behind my display to make my project pop a bit more and to hide some of the imperfections that are on the wall. So here is what the original plan was without it painted and what it would kind of look like with it painted... please give me some feedback on this.

Mel's Final Critique

Overall, there was not much to critique about the project. Everything is pretty much ready for production and will be started this weekend. I think that you are in a great spot 2 weeks before the show opens and things will go smoothly. Nice job, Mel! :)

Progress

Still making progress on my menu board... I plan to have this finalized by Sunday and the files to Richardsons by Monday, March 26. Any and all critique would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Menu Board

So this is what I have so far for my menu board. As of right now it will be printed onto three 4 feet by 2 feet boards hung on the walls of the gallery, as if someone was to walk up and order. Please let me know if you have any suggestions and critique. Thanks!

Final Color Palette

So here is the final color palette that I am working in. I chose a larger palette so that I would have many options.

Color Palette

Okay so here is the first color palette that I was starting with....


So after playing around with some of the colors and pushing the saturation, I came up with these...


And then I was just browsing through one of the color books and I liked this color palette as well.


Please let me know if you have any suggestions or perhaps you like certain color from certain color palettes or if some should be edited out. Thanks guys.

Mel's All Faculty Critique 2

Here are some of the main points that were discussed:
-disconnect between the use of photo and vector. Possible use color or texture to create separation and to fill the deadspace
-the color palette is off and needs to be more cohesive throughout entire project
-The "u" in the logo is a little off and needs to be revisited as well as think about the dark circle border. Perhaps use a complimentary color.
-Good variety in ride choice and branding for those.
-Look at the tshirts again and decide which you want on front/back
-Find a solution for the layout on the back of the park map... There is a lot of competition for visual hierarchy. Need to make it flow better and easier to read.
For display, consider where you put your three ride signs and tshirts.

Overall, I think you are in a good spot with your project and you have a good amount finished! Keep it up, Mel. :)

Post Faculty Critique

So to say the least I am really frustrated with my project and the critique. I have been struggling with the identity for the restaurant and as it seems I am getting closer to a solution, I need to be moving forward to other things to get my project off and running. Since I am more behind in my process I have decided to cut some things out of my project that I think are unnecessary. I am no longer doing the ad campaign or the book that features all of my pieces. Both would be a large time and money drain so I am focusing on the identity, packaging, menu, the building sketch, and a small promo piece.

For the critique, I agree that my color palette is a little muddy and needs to be brightened up and appetizing. I still want to keep bright colors but I am working on making them more appetizing. On my logo... I'm still lost. I am definitely still going forward with the monkey idea, but I feel like I wasn't given much advice to go off of. I'm really frustrated at the amount of time we've been given for critiques because I do not feel it's enough to be helpful. I think what I'm struggling with thus far is that for all of our learning experience here in the design program we have had our work critiqued thoroughly and often, so this project is only being critiqued a couple times and I'm not used to it.

I've also been thinking about the functionality of my project and the fact that it is a concept, not a real restaurant. Going off of the that, I think that I should push my project a little more towards the fun, crazy side. After college I'm not going to get to do many projects like this where I have this much creative freedom to just do whatever. So I would like to push this concept and go with it.

I'll be posting some color palettes and more logos over the next couple days so any and all feedback is welcome!

Outside Critique

So I had my outside critique yesterday with Todd Lipscomb, a senior art director at Intrinzic, Inc. in Newport, KY (the agency I interned at summer after sophomore year). I think it has been the most beneficial critique so far. We sat down and he gave me his opinions about what I had accomplished so far and what was not quite there. He also reminded me of something that I had not been thinking about this whole time which was vital. Throughout this process, I have forgotten who my client was... ME. He reminded me that a senior capstone project such as this should push the envelope because when you have real clients, most of the time you're going to have to play it safe, so have fun during this project. He encouraged me to push my concept past something that has to work and function in the real world. I then started going through my project and realized that I had lost a lot of the fun that interested me in this concept in the beginning. Monkeys are fun... my mark right now is not fun.
After I explained my concept and reasoning for my mark, we went through all of my process and sketching. He really thought that my main components for my mark were very well thought out, but just needed to be reorganized to create something more dynamic and fun. There was a disconnect between the clever name and the static mark that was dangling above it. After looking through a couple of the previous logos that I had come up with he noticed one (the one I have shown here). He noticed that their was something happening in the counterforms that made it look like a monkey. So I began doodling and working with it as soon as I got home and I think I have found something that will really push my idea and fit the attitude I have been trying to convey.
He also encouraged me to sit down and really construct the copy of my messages which will in turn build a stronger brand.
I have a lot of work to do over the next month but nothing out of my reach. I'm glad I had my critique when I did because he gave me significant feedback that will need time to develop.

Change up

So after having a discussion with Professor Powell yesterday afternoon. She made clear something that had been bugging me about my project, but that I was just ignoring. I had felt that the identity for my restaurant was so completely disconnected from the rest of everything. I was trying to fit all of my concepts into this one logo so I felt that their was no connection to the name Modern Monkey and the logo. Also, I have decided to tag the word "cafe" onto the name so that it is easily understood that my project is a restaurant which may help me as I go back to the drawing board for my logo. I have to still meet with Sara and Abby as well so I will be discussing this with them as I'm moving forward.

Melanie's Critique Notes

From the class feedback on the Spruce Knob logo, some people felt that the stacking of lower case letters was unsuccessful and perhaps to try all caps to avoid awkward spaces created by ascenders and descenders. Also, the letter "u" was uneven and had a more playful characteristic that was not shared amongst all of the letters. The logo also was lacking the energy of an amusement park logo. Someone also pointed out that there needs to be a system in which this logo exists for use among different placement.
The map was much cleaner and organized than what everyone had seen before and was very easy to understand.
The resolution for the signs was a good compromise of illustration and typography. It was commented that these signs fit the rides well and perhaps you could take some cues from these ride signs for the overall park logo.
Overall, there were improvements since the last critique, but the pieces need to start fitting together stylistically.

First Critique of 2012

What I took away from my critique as well as Mel's notes was that I have been successful so far in designing, but I really need to start pushing what I've designed and begin to develop my ideas further into my concept. I've begun sketching ideas of what my installation could look like and I will be continuing to work on the sketches of the restaurant (as well as where to place my logo on the restaurant). I have also been searching for paper samples to have for my next critique so I can pass them around and see what everyone thinks about the different paper choices. So for the next critique, I plan to have furthered my restaurant sketches, have physical paper samples, and show my sketches for the ideas for installation. I also plan to meet with Abby this Friday to talk about my project and make sure I'm on a steady progressive pace. Thank you for everyone's feedback!