Bjorn, the head chef and owner, was looking to grow the Artichoke brand, a move that meant there could no longer be any explicit mention of the Middle East (Their previous tagline was Deviant Middle Eastern). At the same time, he was wanted the new branding to be slightly edgier and better capture the raw and rebellious nature of the Artichoke dining experience.
I chose to visually reference the restaurant’s Middle Eastern roots through the use of arabesque flourishes in the logo (below). I also developed an ornate Byzantine-influenced motif (below) that could serve as secondary branding graphic. The motif works as a graphic device to provide non-intrusive branding across different applications such as bandanas in the uniform or photowalls.
Artichoke branding applications, clockwise from top: Laser engraved menu boards, namecards, staff bandanas.
I laser engraved, sawed, sanded, stained, varnished and re-sanded over 35 wooden menu boards by myself due to budget constraints.
As the restaurant updates their menus on a weekly basis, menu templates were formatted in Pages for the client to easily update on their own. Each sheet is then stamped with the secondary brand graphic to create an edge to edge print.
Lastly, to compliment the unorthodox dining experience, I referenced skateboarding counter culture through large wheat paste poster murals. I designed 4 food-related pun posters to be pasted in 2 colours. Composed of several deconstructed layers of silkscreened posters, the end result was an installation that added a touch of grunge, radically altering the feel of the space. In total, I screen printed and cut over 500 posters to achieve the desired effect over the 3 murals.
Mural 1. Facing main dining area. 4.5m by 2.2m.
Close up of Mural 1.
Murals 2 and 3. Adjacent to the restaurant entrance and behind bar counter.These murals were pasted over functioning cabinet doors.
Closeup of Mural 2. Adjacent to restaurant entrance.
