Sage Social Eatery Rebrand

Currently, Sage is perceived as a delicious cute little brunch spot that has a strong social media presence. Their type of style is home, friendly, and trendy. I am looking to keep the image Sage has but change the branding so that it has a refreshed look. This means, I would like to keep the home and friendly image yet change the restaurant’s logo and menu to better update and reflect the image.

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Project Overview

The purpose of this project is to rebrand the restaurant Sage Social Eatery from the ground up.

This includes creating a new logo, menu, and marking up a promotional poster. The current logo feels boring and restricted due to the shape and size. It needs a new image behind the brand. The menu is clustered and low quality. It needs a new clean look. The promotional poster should be created to entice customers to come visit the rebranding of the restaurant. The vision is to revamp Sage’s brand and incorporate techniques of graphic design into a new style in order to give it a refreshed image. We want a new style but still incorporate the social/home vibe that Sage has.

Research

Who is the target audience? There are many type of target audience to consider.

• You want old and new visitors.
  • Old visitors get to see the revamp and try it out once more. New visitors get to see a new and contemporary restaurant to check out.
• For the promotional posters, you want any adults 21+ to come enjoy the happy hours.
• In general, Sage has a large age range.
  • The people in their 20’s are mainly here due to the trendiness.
  • The people in their 30’s are mainly here due to the social aspect.
  • The people in their 40’s and up are mainly here with their family and socializing.
• By knowing the audience, I can better understand how to do the designing process

Who are their competitors?

• It’s no doubt a brunch restaurant would have competitors. These were competitors that I have found to be pretty similar and in close proximity.
  • Chismosa Café - A Mexican-American restaurant with a contemporary design mixed with trendy and retro theme inside.
  • BB’s Cafe - A popular Soul food brunch spot, designed more for takeout, specializes in chicken and waffles and design is based off a home.
  • ○ Clandestino Gastro-Bar - A Latin American Bar that has a cocktail bar. There is a modern/contemporary vision. It has fusion dishes as well, a bar view, and similar with the social aspects that Sage has with the indoor/outdoor location. The modern black/gray interior is able to represent their classy, elegance, modern, and clean vibes.

What sets Sage apart from their competitors?

• The owner and social media manager of the restaurant advertises their small business restaurant as:
  • “eclectic, fresh, contemporary cuisine” - Google Reviews
  • “New twist to outdoor dining” - Yelp○ “Airy open concepts” - Yelp
  • “Cozy green and open corner” - Yelp○ “Gourmet and family friendly” - Yelp
  • “Dream of a neighborhood café” - Doordash
  • “Fun atmosphere” - Instagram
• They aim to treat their customers with a “gourmet and family friendly experience” without driving too far or spending too much money on a “fresh fusion of seasonal eclectic menu.” - From the Business (Yelp)

Objective

The marketing objective is to grab old and new customers inside the newly revamped restaurant so that they can order food and drinks based on seeing the fresh logo, new menu design, and promotional poster.

Desired Outcome

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• The new logo will look trendy/contemporary so that they would want to come take a look inside the restaurant. I want to keep the colors under shades of sage and incorporate the sage plant in some type of way.

• The new menu will look clean yet enticing to look at. It will showcase the entrees more clearly. It will want people to scan through the menu with ease.

• The new poster will bring in customers to promote happy hours to successfully meet goals before closing for the day.

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Initial Sketches

Sketches were completed on 09/06/23. The initial sketches were shown to a classroom of design students to critique in order to take criticism and improve on the design.

Marker compositions for the logo was completed in black and white as well as colored to show if the sketched logo would make a good design contrast. No marker compositions were done for the promotional poster.

Digital compositions were completed over a few days. Several critiques were made and corrected.

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Results

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The new logo incorporates a literal "sage" leaf to represent the plant. It also includes a easter egg, if one looks closely at the logo, they can find a picture of a house. This house is seen at the edge of the logo, where the "E" in sage is located. Sage Social Eatery aims to show a homely environment to their customers which is what makes them unique. The logo further adds in some contemporary themes in their restaurant which is then added in the logo through the abstract line and aesthetic look that "social eatery" gives.

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The menu emphasizes entrees in order to get the customers to first look at the important areas of the menu. The entree serves as the main meal which is why there is a heavy emphasis shown through the use of color and contrast. Butterflies are added in the menu in order to incorporate the restaurant's mural at their patio and complement the social aspect they are known for. The menu for the drinks take up a decent amount of menu space since the restaurant is also known for their delicious drinks which adds onto the aesthetic they hold.

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The inspiration behind the poster stems behind the restaurant's featured yelp photos. Many people took pictures of their colorful mimosas which got me to create a happy hour poster to showcase their alcoholic beverages. The restaurant is known for their brunch but also serve alcoholic beverages. This poster is able to then bring in adult customers to enjoy their alcoholic beverages while also showing potential customers a new rebrand with the new logo!