Five Restaurant & Street Lounge
Five Restaurant & Street Lounge

Five Restaurant & Street Lounge turned out to be one of the longest projects I've worked on, but one of the most fun. I worked with the head chef and his wife to come up with a branding scheme that would extend throughout the restaurant and its web presence.

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The most challenging aspect of the job was the logo. When creating an identity, several ideas are thrown out and Five was no exception. We went through more identity concepts than any other client I've worked with. What made the process fun was that we both kept each other to high standards and didn't stop until we had an image we both found satisfying and congruous.

Such an in-depth process provided me with a great foundation for the site design. The goal was to create a contemporary web presence in a rich media package. My initial designs were a bit too conservative, so I scrapped them and tried to be a little more avant-garde.

The end concept was referred to as the ‘mad chef.’ It began with a rusty board filled with scratches and scribbles with a bubble-like interface slightly reminiscent of molecules. Each bubble contained something to view, such as photos or video, or interact with, like directions and a contact form. Everything moved around based on user choice thanks to Flash.

The concept extended to the menus and promotion for the restaurant. The logo was replicated in steel outside the restaurant. It was the first time I ever saw something I created become a part of such a large production. It was very exciting and a little surreal, but overall a great experience.