The problem that BoxPark Sushi was facing was that it was a new restaurant with no brand identity, strategy, with limited awareness. As a new sushi restaurant, this project was essentially a blank canvas, which although is exciting, did present a wide array of problems. BoxPark Sushi did not know who their target audience was or who their competitors were, they did not know the voice and tone their brand should communicate from, and they did not know how they would be visually represented.

Significant research was conducted on current sushi restaurants, specifically, BoxPark Sushi's direct, and indirect competitors, along with the place branding where BoxPark Sushi would be open. Then audience interviews were conducted and research into differentiation was also completed. This wide range of research was done before any deliverables were created because the designer must know the what, who, and why behind the client’s product (Felton, 2013). This key information lays the foundation for effective designs that solve problems and is typically delivered in the form of a creative brief (Bruun, 2019). 

A successful design strategy and the creative brief were then formulated by following the outlines set forth by Felton and taking the time to critically think about the target audience/consumer. The target consumer, brand characteristics, along with the brand’s voice and tone were then to be identified and created.

The research established BoxPark Sushi to be a fun, creative, passionate, and altruistic brand targeting young professionals (ages 25-40) in the East Side Milwaukee area with organic sushi that gives back to the community and the environment. BoxPark needed to be creative in terms of its visuals, modern aesthetics, and presentation of sushi dishes. With an altruistic personality and mission, BoxPark offers the target audience the highest possible level on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Self-Actualization, because by partaking in an organic meal that contributes to environmental non-profits while simultaneously abstaining from the harmful impacts of factory fish farming, the consumer is not only prioritizing their health but is also taking a stand against the status quo of sustainability to better their world and themselves (Felton, 2013). BoxPark is passionate about organic sushi, its preparation, and presentation with aspirations of being the top sushi restaurant in the state. However, this doesn’t mean that BoxPark is an uptight, pretentious dining experience. BoxPark is fun, youthful, and committed to its community. The brand is not afraid to joke with consumers and encourages them to be part of the business and team by offering monthly sushi cooking classes for free to the community. BoxPark's voice and tone were established to position the brand as an easily identified and authoritative source for sustainable, organic sushi in the east side Milwaukee area (Heald, 2018).

At this point in the problem-solving process, the brand has been researched, the target demographic has been identified and interviewed, the design problem faced by the brand has been defined, potential design solutions to that problem have been articulated, the voice and tone of the brand have been determined, and visual representations of the brand voice have been produced. With all of this completed, the next step was to create a Design Brief and Media Plan to assist with the finalization of the identity development process.

The most valuable resource when creating the media matrix came from Managing the Design Process Concept Development by Terry Lee Stone. Stone suggests that every media has its own advantages and disadvantages that are unique to the respective media (Stone, 2010). This was in support of additional research that proved to be true. It was concluded that depending on the target consumer’s behavior and how they consume the brand’s product/service, the brand’s media should be carefully crafted and implemented to have the largest impact. With 74% of social media users stating that they scroll through their feed daily and 51% of users signing onto social media multiple times a day, having captivating content consistently being pushed out on social media platforms is vital to the brand awareness and success of all future marketing campaigns (Smith, 2019). Then, by leveraging qualitative data to uncover the most organic route to reach the target demographic, it became clear that digital media could be used to reach the largest number of target consumers quickly while simultaneously providing them quality content for them to follow daily thus creating brand loyalty as an added bonus. This solved the problem of how to increase brand awareness through media delivery crafted from the brand's identity and voice and tone. 

With brand awareness and visual representation solutions relying on the brand's visual identity, the next step in the problem-solving process was logo creation. All the research completed and knowledge gained about the client had led up to this point.

The first task was to explore logo concepts, refine those concepts, and then finalize a single logo that represents the defined brand.

No pressure. 

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In chapter 3 of Logo Design Love by David Airey, the seven elements of iconic design are all direct elements of logo modernism so the goal in mind was something clean and memorable with a creative spice to attract young professionals located in the east side Milwaukee area.

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Several of the sketched logo concepts had the potential to communicate the defined brand. At this point, three concepts were chosen to move forward in the process of continued development.

These three vector logo concepts were presented for peer review and deliberation. The discussion brought some concerns to light each of the logo's abilities to hit as many of Airey's seven elements of iconic design while simultaneously representing the defined brand and its mission. It became apparent that none of these three logos were innovative enough to be memorable among the target demographic and competitors, nor did they represent the brand's altruistic characteristics and mission in any way. It was decided that in order to effectively solve the brand visual identity problem, a different logo needed to be created.

Out of the 20 concept sketches, number nine seemed to catch the eye of several peers. However clever and memorable it may be, this particular sketch also did not accurately represent the brand's altruistic side.

A new concept sketch was created from the peer reviews and redirected brainstorm. The concept of this new logo (pictured above) really drove home the altruistic characteristics and vision of the brand. Yet, when put up against Airey's elements of iconic design and presented to a small focus group compiled of the target demographic, it became clear that this logo was too complex. 

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Sketch number nine from the original logo concept sketches was then revisited. The design problem faced was how to take this sketch and revise it to be iconic and truly reflective of the BoxPark brand.

The finalized logo (pictured above) stands as a monument reflecting the mission of BoxPark Sushi. Which is ”to provide deliciously healthy, organic sushi while leveraging business to inspire and implement fresh solutions to the environmental and factory farming crisis” while retaining a modern, fun, and creative aesthetic to reach its target demographic of young professionals in east-side Milwaukee.

The head of the “BP” is composed of two circulating arrows representing the altruistic efforts and mission of BoxPark Sushi. The glasses make the letter “B” and the mouth and tongue are a backward “P” which together makes the initials, BP, an intentional easter egg in the logo. A very satisfied expression is seen on its face because, of course, BoxPark’s delicious organic sushi has just been consumed. Ancient Japanese legend has it that if you take a bite of BoxPark’s signature salmon roll you can hear the logo's vibrations go, “Yuuummmm…”.

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With the brand identity in place, the final steps were to create the media assets and compile everything, the heart and soul of the brand, the mission, vision, and values, into a brand guide that would translate it all into design (Chan, 2019).

The BoxPark Sushi brand guidelines (shown in the gallery above) exist to prevent any problems concerning who the brand is or how the brand operates. Media assets were created for various marketing needs and campaigns for BoxPark Sushi to establish an online and community presence. A variety of print to digital assets was created because every media has its own advantages and disadvantages that are unique to the respective media (Stone, 2010). 

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All the initial problems BoxPark Sushi faced were solved with the completion of this branding project. The evidence for these solutions became clear after a consumer survey was conducted regarding the brand. An overwhelming amount of positive feedback was received from that survey and then translated into a branded infographic (seen below) on behalf of BoxPark Sushi. 

References: 

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Airey, D. (2015). Logo Design Love, Annotated and Expanded. edition, second edition. Retrieved from https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/logo-design-love/9780133812589/ch03.html

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Brenner, J. (2019, December 2). Modern Industrial Is The Trend To Watch: Masonry And Dark Trim Exteriors Will Be Hot In 2020. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/juliabrenner/2019/12/02/modern-industrial-is-the-trend-to-watch-masonry-and-dark-trim-exteriors-will-be-hot-in-2020/#15be975b2b43 

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Bruun, K. (2019, October 22). 10 Key Elements of a Successful Creative Brief - Upwork. Retrieved from https://www.upwork.com/hiring/design/how-to-create-an-effective-creative-brief/

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Chan, S. (2019, September 3). How to create a brand style guide. Retrieved from https://99designs.com/blog/logo-branding/how-to-create-a-brand-style-guide/

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Felton, G. (20130805). Advertising: Concept and Copy (Third Edition), 3rd Edition [VitalSource Bookshelf version]. Retrieved from vbk://9780393733921 

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Heald, E. (2018, April 16). 5 Steps to Find Your Brand Voice. Retrieved from https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2018/04/find-brand-voice/

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Kenny, J. (2017, November 1). Know the Difference between Tone and Voice to Set Your Brand Apart. Retrieved from https://gimmemojo.com/2017/11/01/tone-voice-set-your-brand-apart/

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Rinaldi, J. (2019, May 30). Sans Serif vs Serif Font: Which Should You Use & When? Retrieved from https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/sans-serif-vs-serif-font-which-should-you-use-when 

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Smith, A., & Anderson, M. (2019, December 31). Social Media Use 2018: Demographics and Statistics. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/03/01/social-media-use-in-2018/

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Stone, T. (2010). Managing the design process: concept development: an essential manual for the working designer. Beverly (Mass.): Rockport.