Restaurant Location
The restaurants branding felt dated, lack luster, and blended in with it's surroundings too much. Being located in the Midwest, small town, J. Gumbo entered an uphill battle to introduce the surrounding community on what cuisine it served. The branding on the roadside sign was too detailed, making it harder to interpret, and easier for the fast moving traffic to pass it by.
In my first visit inside, the atmosphere was nothing like the outside. There were fun and vibrant paintings on the wall. Jazz was playing in the background and the serving style was similar to that of a chipotle or subway. I was pleasantly surprised, but also wondered why the vibrancy of inside the restaurant wasn’t represented on the outside.
Current Branding
There are also multiple versions of the menu. Each location can tailor their menu to what they serve, but the design and layout are never consistent.
The most troubling part about J. Gumbo’s as a company was the lack of consistent branding. I have discovered 8 variations of the main logo and there may be more.
Kalamazoo Logo
The crawfish character as is stands was not as effective as it could be. There are too many small details to the logo, making it hard to be resized for multiuse purposes. From what I could find, there were no alternative logos lock ups made for dynamic marketing purposes.
In my personal opinion, the colors were boring. Creole food has spice, pizazz, culture and body. The color choice was lacking, and seemed more fit as clip art than a gumbo brands logo.
Creating A Cohesive Branding System
Custom Typeface
I wasn't liking any of the typefaces I was attempting to use, so I created my own to use as a title face. Refinement was definitely needed, along with some added color.
Branding Identity
With the identity, I didn't want to stray too far from what customers already recognized as J. Gumbo's. But the identity was in great need of an update. I took the crawfish that people would've been familiar with, and made him easier to identify by simplifying him in form and in color.
Thesis Presentation
The video below is my final presentation of my Thesis. I go into detail about my process throughout this project.