MENUS: SORTED!

So after a bit of consultation, I have an idea of how to put across my Yo! Sushi menus. The idea is to have the menu, mainly consisting of Yo! Sushi's most popular dishes, dotted around some of NYC's most famous landmarks, with a small description underneath, in the theme of a "Tourist information" caption. On the reverse side will be a map of New York itself, providing information & tour routes for New Yorks landmarks, with the dish description replaced with actual tourist info. I think this will be a good way of not only promoting New York's Yo! Sushi branch, but also the city itself.

MENUS!

Aside from the direct mail, I also need to look at menus.
For my menu, I plan on splitting it into both a food & drink menu, rather than combining the two into one. To do this, I will approach it differently than the existing Yo! Sushi menus, which are a square shape. Whilst designing my menu within a square will maintain some form of consistency, I think that since Yo! Sushi want to diversify their restaurants with wall murals, they would do the same with their menus, so I will be working to a different shape, of which I have not yet decided on yet. I would like to approach the menu with something more outside the box as opposed to a traditional shaped menu, perhaps something like a circle, which could tie in to the Japanese flag, whilst still maintaining a New York theme.

Direct Mail: First attempt

So here is my first attempt at the aforementioned New York Times paper. The front cover story focuses heavily on the low attendance number of the Yankees game, with no mention of Yo! Sushi until the very end. The purpose of this is to shock people into thinking only 3 people attended the game, and when they continue on through the paper, they will find that it is due to Yo! Sushi's grand opening, which will play on the pun. I have made the story of Yo! Sushi being the cause of the low attendance as to make the story more subtle & believable. Inside, I will keep with my original plan of humorously exaggerating facts & figures from the Yo! Sushi opening day. I think the subtlety and lack of mention of Yo! Sushi will also play on the shock factor, baseball is a big thing in America and for readers to find that only 3 people attended one of the biggest games of the year will shock them and make them want to read more, which will lead them to the cause inside. For the article covering Yo! Sushi's grand opening, I plan to include an image of a large queue to emphasize just how popular the restaurant is. All of this is fictional of course, and purposely made to sound utterly ridiculous. I just think this is a fun way of promoting Yo! Sushi, while at the same time appealing to a younger audience. I'm under the assumption most people trust the New York Times, so to see a story like this on the cover of one the most famous newspapers in the world will encourage people to read what is inside, rather than just throw it in the bin as they would with most direct mail, or "junk" mail.

Ideas for Direct Mail

I've had my first idea for an item of direct mail, but whether it will work or not has yet to be seen.
My idea is to make a fictional New York Times newspaper, that will informally praise Yo! Sushi & humorously exaggerate facts about the restaurant's opening day. Basically the entire paper will be made up of Yo! Sushi related articles, in a way to promote the new branch. My favourite is a headline stating the New York Yankees have won a game but no one was in attendance since everyone was at the Yo! Sushi opening. I have also exaggerated the number of those who attended the opening to well into the hundreds of thousands & have also enlarged the amount earned by the restaurant on its opening day, as to make Yo! Sushi sound like one of the best restaurants around. The informal way the articles have been written is done so in a way to appeal to the target audience of 18-24 year olds & so far, I think it has worked quite well. In another of the articles I shall also include promotional vouchers or coupons to redeem at the restaurant as well as other means of attracting custom to Yo! Sushi's New York branch.

The New York Times is one of the most iconic & well known newspapers in the world, which explains my decision to incorporate it into my direct mail package.

Beer/Wine Label designs

I've come to the conclusion, that to maintain the New York theme throughout my mural, labels, direct mail & menus, that rather than crop sections of my mural & "paste" them onto each medium, that I will instead utilize elements of the mural, rearranging & resizing them to create completely new imagery layouts.

To begin with, I did this on a Wine bottle label. While this is not necessarily my final design, I have decided this is the way I want to take my label. The only problem I am having is where to include the Yo! Sushi logo. Here, I have shown the label itself, aswell as in situ on a wine bottle. If anyone has any ideas as to where I can put my logo, be it on the label or on the bottle itself, please leave a comment as I am rather stuck with this one.

Direct Mail

Since my mural is practically finished, give or take one or two minor adjustments, it's time to begin my Direct mail pack. As a quick brainstorm, I've had a look at what I could do to promote Yo! Sushi via the letterbox...

Postcards
Menu Samples
Promotional Offers/Flyers

Some of these are likely to encourage custom to Yo! Sushi through special promotions etc.

NYCYouth

Continuing to look at nycgo.com, I found some very interesting looking graphics. These use images & colours that are immediately associable with youth. Not that I am thinking of incorporating this style, I just find it interesting that New York itself, as a diverse city, is directed mainly towards young people, as opposed to looking like it caters for people of all ages. Even the wording on these graphics is very youthful & modern, everything just seems so much younger. There are a variety of images similar to these, I found most of them by simply Googling "nycgo".

Links to New York

I have just been investigating the "official" website of New York City. Even this website seems to appeal more to a similar demographic as the one I am aiming towards. The website is very vibrant, modern & speaks youth & energy. I would have thought that a city so diverse as New York would have had a website that catered for everyone, as opposed to seemingly being primarily aimed towards youngsters. You can visit the site & have a look for yourself HERE.

9/11 Controversy! How's that for a Blog title?

According to, well, just about everyone, the plane I'd featured in my mural might have sparked up some sensitivity what with 9/11 only being TEN years ago. Apparently it looked ready to crash into a building so it's gone. So, with my mural being one image down, I'm left with a vast space... what to replace it with?

Using the Yo! Logo

I've finally decided on my Yo! Logo for the New York branch. I have retained the Yo! element of the original, but replaced "Sushi" with "New York" to maintain brand consistency. The typeface I have chosen for the modified part of the logo is known as Synchro LET. I have chosen this typeface because I think it keeps with the attitude of the demographic. It is a large step away from what was there before, but I think it still keeps a youthful look.