Storytasting
FESTIVAL WAYFINDING
Initially, this project started off with a menu rebranding for the contemporary Kansas City restaurant, Novel. Their initial menu was plain, lacked clear direction and hierarchy as well as didn’t reflect their intentional and artistic interior. This redesign aimed to create a menu that felt more intentional and aligned with their brand.
The festival that branched off of this is a potential expansion of their brand onto other assets such as banners, a-frame signage, maps and way finding. This project covers many possible touchpoint and utilizes architectural maps and intentional research to plan and create the event.
The Challenge
This project began with a menu redesign for Novel. The main inspiration was this watercolor-esque fox with red flowers, which was a major driving force in the overall stylistic direction I chose. Novel is a culinary experience with locally sourced ingredients and contemporary techniques. Their building features wood accents partnered with white brick as well as paintings on the walls. Their brand previously consisted of gold colors and banner or ribbon iconography which didn’t feel aligned with their overall mission and audience, so I did not include them in the rebrand.
When redesigning the menu, I chose those watercolor foxes to emulate in my illustration style. As for the typography, I chose a primary typeface that felt upscale and contemporary to match with the feeling of their existing brand. The menu design borrows elements from their current color palette and interior.
The rebrand
Sketch to final process, began more detailed and gradually distilled the information down to the essentials.
visualization for event
visualization for event
Novel’s interior featuring the main inspiration, a fox.
This festival is built off of this menu redesign. Hosted at Union Station in Kansas City, this upscale event would benefit not only Novel but also Harvester’s KC. Featuring food tasting from different restaurants in Kansas City, this event would be for those who value good food made locally for a cause they believe in, that they want to support financially.
To plan the event itself I started off with a site map of the venue and began planning all of the events as well as identifying the flow of traffic. By doing this, I was able to identify where signage would need to be placed, and what it needed to say. The different categories of signage I created were identification, orientational and directional signs to guide the patrons through the space in a way that felt natural and easy.
The process
All signage created for the event
