The Big Catch Fish ‘n Chips Menu Flyer
November 30, 2008 by Duncan · Leave a Comment
As I was completing the Big Catch’s ten posters last week the client was finalizing the last details of their menu items so I could begin the design process right away, and just like my old buddy Hannibal from the A-Team “I love it when a plan comes together”.
Outside Flyer Menu
The menu concept was a breeze as I had already established the look and feel with the poster treatments and designed them knowing I was going to reuse some of their elements in the menu flyer, this a classic design technique when you are creating a brand or identity package for a client.
With a little planning it is often far more cost effective to design multiple projects in a sequence as appose to constantly doing one offs. A little marketing goes a long way allowing you to adapt your advertising when needed instead of panicking and reacting to the current economic situation or a slow quarter and rushing your campaign.
Because of all the research and detail that went into the posters there were many options and avenues that we could have went down and in the end what we came up with is quite unique, interesting and is almost certainly going to grab people’s attention and get them talking.
It is a simple 8.5” x 11” folded (book style) menu flyer for inside the shop as well for mailing campaigns. I am constantly hording and dissecting every ad that comes my way and most food and restaurant establishments ads are either very plain or very loud with outrageous colours looking like they are selling there wares at crazy rock bottom prices and everything must go.
I guess there’s a time and a place for this type of marketing (or not? I smell a future blog post here) but these days the average person is blinded (figuratively…lol ) by these visual guerrilla tactics that may have worked at onetime but your average consumer is so much smarter than that now and still many products and services are being sold in this manner.
Inside Flyer Menu
Everywhere you go in North America you can find Fish and Chip shops, although they may all taste different they all seem to create the same atmosphere when you visit, they virtually do zero advertising and when they do it is very poorly done.
So after taking all that into account I decided that I was going to go back to the basics with the Big Catch menu and show the world how a real menu is supposed to be done. The chosen colours are eloquent, the imagery is well placed, and there are a couple of puns and quirky graphics.
The food items, pricing and contact information are clear and easily identifiable and you can also find the History of Fish and Chips on the back cover with portraits of the main players that were involved. It is engaging and entertaining for people of all ages, well thought out and guaranteed to get a second and third look.
I’ve got one more menu to do, the main wall menu which will be complete by the end of the week and then it is on to the website for the grand opening, I’m looking forward to having a deep fried Mars bar with ice cream.
The Big Catch Fish ‘n Chips Posters
November 23, 2008 by Duncan · Leave a Comment
The Big Catch Fish and Chips from Newmarket Ontario are gearing up for their Grand Opening and once again Digital Deceptions has been fortunate enough to be commissioned to do some unique creative artwork. I visited the Fish n Chips Restaurant a couple of weeks ago to consult with the Big “C” listening to their needs, vision and seeing what they had to work with.
From my experience client’s either know exactly what they want period which is usually much better than them not having a clue as to what they really want or need but I find as a designer when you make suggestions that sometimes the client feels like it is an up sell so it is important that you back up your advice with why it is better to go in that direction and share some of your past experiences.
First I Created The Logo
The Big Catch on the other hand were very upfront and after they had told me their concept and requirements they wanted to hear my opinion and how I thought it would be best communicated which we had a lengthy conversation about and put a game plan into action starting with their logo.
Click on Poster 1
The second phase of the project was to design ten 30” x 40” wall posters that are to be installed throughout the restaurant adding to the visual fish, maritime theme but also containing relevant content that can teach, distract and get patrons talking while they wait for their food.
How cool is that? I can remember back when I was a kid I would get mesmerized by things like that in restaurants and now these days that sort of thing has been lost in chains and franchises.
So because of our conversation I now not only know exactly what the Big Catch wants to be but I also know how to get there by using my past experiences going to restaurants with my family and pushing those same buttons that instilled the same feelings as when I was a child.
Ten Posters About Fish, Fishing And The Sea?
Click on Poster 2
Here are the ten posters that were finalized, I hope you enjoy them as much as I did designing and researching them.
I began the poster design with the background and I thought because of the restaurants interior colours (red and blue) that it should be light, more specifically neutral and playing on the whole maritime theme the obvious choice was sand. These web graphics don’t do the detail any justice so just take my word for it when I tell you that the background looks like sand and has multiple gritty colour levels in it and you know right away what it is.
The first two posters are of record freshwater fish catches from all over the world and I will have to admit that the information is not 100% accurate not only because I found conflicting information during my research but I was instructed to add a couple of specific names to the list for a little fun.
Fish Poster Three Was Tough
Click on Poster 3
The first two were simple in comparison to the third where I started to experiment a little and actually proved to be one of the most difficult by far. The concept came to me from my last trip to Northern Ireland, I was in what we call a “Fish Shap” which coincidentally sells fish and on the wall I saw a large illustration of how to butcher fish, where to cut and what some of the parts were called so after much research, scanning and a lot of patients in Illustrator I came up with what you see on the left.
The difficulty was being able to replicate the same idea without it coming off gory as I’m sure people aren’t going to appreciate looking at fish guts as they eat all the while keeping it dressed up like the previous couple of designs.
Bad Luck And Fishing
Click on Poster 4
I was unaware of how superstitious many cultures were about fishing and I think that this derives from the fact that it is one of the oldest activities that we as humans still do to this day and no matter how sophisticated a culture is or was that fishing was responsible for their survival or downfall.
These cultures believed that the little things they did in life either affect their luck or did not appease there gods and over the last couple of thousand years these belief systems have modernized into superstitions, some of which I have heard myself at one time or another so to ward off any bad luck on the fourth poster I have added a fishing poster about superstition.
Victorian Fishermen?
Click on Poster 5
I came across some Victorian fishermen post cards in an old Irish book I’ve had for years and these old cards had so much character that they had to be used, they were from the days when people posed laying down because it took ten minutes to take the photo, lay down and say cheese…lol.
Since this was the “Fisher man” poster I thought it would be a good idea to show how to tie a few fishing knots. I actually use to fish with my dad quite a bit growing and up and still remember how to tie the clinch knot that he taught me and ever since I learnt my first knot and have come across any kind of knot diagram (which has been quite a few times unexpectedly) I get mesmerized just like when I was a kid so I knew I was on the right track for the Big Catch poster number five.
Guinness, Pier 39, Donaghadee And Me
Click on Poster 6
While I was doing my research I also found that a big part of maritime culture was tragedy which of course has a time and place to be remembered but a restaurant is neither the time nor place. From many of these tragedies came the lighthouse, the technological answer to aid a ship in troubled waters or bad weather.
Again taking a little bit from one of my many trips to Northern Ireland which wouldn’t be complete without a couple of hours out to Donaghadee (Dawn-a-ga-dee) to see the lighthouse, I know how important it was in its day before satellites and GPS but just think for a moment the relief and safety that some of these seafaring men felt when they saw the lighthouse, something that most of us don’t think about today the odd time we get the chance to see one.
So I wanted to do the old lighthouse some justice and bring back some of its charm and urgency by sharing a little history and also pointing out some of the different styles that there are in the sixth poster. Like most people I’ve never actually been inside a light house so the next best thing would be to have some sort of building plans or diagrams that would give you a better idea as to what they contain beside steps and ladders. The look of this poster was inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man drawing and I think that it was successfully pulled it off.
The Great Fish And Chips
Click on Poster 7
The owner of the Big Catch is quite knowledgeable and utterly obsessed with sharks so it was a no brainer to incorporate a shark poster into the project but since he knew all about them I didn’t want to just have a bunch of shark information that he already knew in his poster so what was I to do?
I searched high and low and came up with an old long dead science magazine which had an article from the sixties written in retro fashion sounding very dated and it fit right into the theme naturally and giving customers an interesting look into how sharks were thought of forty plus years ago.
The hardest part after finding this article was finding a suitable photo of a shark jaw at 300dpi, I ended up cutting one in half, manipulating it and then duplicating it and flipping it over to make it look whole again.
The History Of Fish N Chips?
Click on Poster 8
Poster number eight made for interesting research because this was the poster devoted to the history of Fish and Chips yes I said it. Everything has a beginning and an end and at some point little bits of information get documented either by art, memoires, newspapers, poetry or stories and then a couple of hundred years later somebody comes along and puts it all together to paint a picture.
Being a British born Ulsterman I have been pretty much raised on fish ‘n chips and have the trained palette of a connoisseur, everywhere we have lived we have tried out all the chippies in the neighbourhood then choosing which was our local and we critique each and every meal but I never had a clue how it all began. That’s culture for you.
Without going into much detail about the whole story which was quite boring and not nearly as much fun as researching it was I decided to look at the major players instead and see if I could find any images of them which I did with a little help from some old encyclopedias. I’m a firm believer that people need a face to put a story to and since this story wasn’t very interesting I concentrated on the imagery.
I Love My Technology
Click on Poster 9
Technology has always intrigued me and I chose to do make poster nine about the sextant, I remember getting frowned at in class for giggling when the teacher said sextant one day…lol. This is an ingenious device that helped man navigate the globe almost three hundred years ago utilizing the devils tools, math and physics.
As a Christian you would have been torn between your faith by utilizing this tool since the church taught that the world was flat and science didn’t exist, they were suspicious of the unknown and couldn’t comprehend the knowledge that went into this tool of navigation.
You have to remember that this was 250 years into the Spanish inquisition so the sextant was seen as a threat by the church and was punishable by death for using one so only very brave men of solid conviction would dare own one. Believe it or not they are still used to this very day although it is not that method of choice.
H.O.M.E.S. = Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior
Click on Poster 10
The final poster was the easiest one to do, I tend to always begin with the hard work first. One of my first thoughts on this project was to have a map of the Great Lakes, living in Ajax Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Durham I am absolutely surrounded by the Great Lakes and have been living ten minutes from Lake Ontario for almost twenty years.
I know that Canadians are very proud of their natural water source and growing up you learn about them at different grades in school so they are a huge part of our lives and they just had to be part of the project.
Like with the shark poster I didn’t want to just have statistics or numbers I wanted to show people the Great Lakes from a perspective they rarely seen if at all so what I decided to do was to have a very old map of the lakes as well as a modern version side by side which creates an interesting effect and hopefully conversation in the coming weeks.
Yeah another long post I know but a lot of thought and hard work went into this project and again I have to thank the Big Catch Fish ‘n Chip Restaurant for trusting me and allowing me to have the amount of creative freedom that I had, it was a pleasure working on and I can’t wait to move on to the next phase of the project.
Choosing Your Technology Wisely
November 16, 2008 by Duncan · 2 Comments
As a graphic and web designer I am constantly on the lookout for new technologies, upgrading my skills, testing new software and dabbling in different programming languages to see what can fit into my arsenal. By keeping on top of technology and in the know allows me to evaluate and improve my efficiency as a designer by adding what I find to be a benefit through my review and analysis.
Two main factors that determine my decision to incorporate any technology is “will it make my life easier by saving me time” and “will I be able to better assist my clients by offering a more varied toolset giving them more options?”
All Choices Are Client Driven
Both considerations are aimed at the customer, the less time it takes me to complete a project the less expensive it will be and if I can foresee problems before they arise the cheaper it will be to the client in the end.
To successfully complete a graphic or web design project you first have to lay the foundation by accurately establishing the client’s objectives, predicting barriers and then choose what technologies to use, it is all about time versus money and how long it takes to build solutions to obstacles, the more flexible the technology you choose the better.
Working For the Man
I have come a long way since 1998 when I first started immersing myself in the latest and greatest. At one time I was the go to guy in the electronics department at a big box store where I got to play with all the new high-tech gadgets quenching my thirst for knowledge and proving to be an invaluable experience which has helped me get to where I am today.
So you would think that when it came to me purchasing electronics for myself I would be very knowledgeable (which I think I am) and avoid any gimmicky thingamajigs that are on the market but I to have made a couple of bad decisions at one time or another and I thought that I would share one with you.
I am not your average user when it comes to computers and related equipment for the simple fact alone that I tend to spend at least ten hours a day in front of a screen, I’m a power user so my equipment gets used and abused much quicker than most so I tend to purchase better quality products.
Over the years one of the best companies I have found has been Logitech, I have never had a problem with any of their mice or keyboards in the past ten years and they produce solid, quality products and I have always trusted them.
A few years ago I purchased a wireless keyboard mouse combo which looking back I have to admit that I only bought them because they looked really cool and that they were wireless. I put my trust into Logitech and they didn’t disappoint, their products worked flawlessly.
The Mouse from Hell
Logitech MX Revolution
So a couple of years later when they brought out there fully loaded wireless MX Revolution laser mouse that was touted as being the most sophisticated mouse released to date, I had to have it. It worked great out of the box but soon I started having issues with it and as I surfed the net to find out how to correct the bugs I was shocked to find out that many people were having the same trouble, it was a $140 piece of crap riddled with various problems depending on your system configuration or how close it was to another wireless connection, it should of never even hit the market.
My first mistake was trust; you should always research a product before you purchase it no matter who the company is unless you have had experience with that particular product. The second thing I did wrong was falling in love with the heavy marketing campaign that went along with the product, Logitech had never done anything on that scale before and I ate it up.
The most important thing that I forgot right from the beginning was the fact that it was just a mouse, all I needed was a simple little $10 device but I wanted the Ferrari and I got burnt.
Back To Basics
Feeling a little bit humble from the experience I have now gone back to a corded keyboard and mouse setup. I stuck with good old dependable Logitech but ironically I didn’t really have to do much research on either product because there weren’t many corded options to choose from (sign of the times I guess) and I can say that they are both top notch and best of all no more changing or recharging batteries.
Sometimes we just get caught up in the details and get lost, we are inundated with so much technology and information out there today that we tend to forget what we were initially looking for all the while being hit by a constant drove of advertisements selling similar products and services.
Below is a breakdown of the three mistakes I made that got me into my little predicament. Although it wasn’t a very costly lesson, more of an inconvenience I feel it is these little experiences both good and bad that allow me to grow by being able to look at myself from different angles be it the designer, client or the consumer.
Marketing
- Advertising and promotion can sell anything, it is a proven fact. Just look at all those really bad infomercials that use to be on TV late at night, they were on at that time because airtime was less expensive for those hours but now they are on at all hours of the day. If this kind of marketing didn’t sell product then you would never see them on and the funny part is that the advertisements are so obviously low budget and the ads still work. Don’t believe the hype.
Device or Deception?
- What are you really after a tool or a toy? You rarely get both in the same product and these days everything is packed with so many different options that you don’t need but you are paying for and the whole idea of convenience has run amuck taking over simplicity and usability. When your scanner, printer fax machine goes on the fritz you have potentially lost all three, try finding a mobile phone without an MP3 player or camera and it goes on and on just be aware and don’t get caught up in all the so called enhancements.
Research
- Product reviews are a great way of finding out how well something works in the real world but you have to be careful because they can also be a savvy marketing campaign by the manufacturer to exploit the public’s naivety. Trustworthy reviews should come from third parties and watch out for advertisements of the same brand or company from the same source as the review.
The Big Catch Fish ‘n Chips Logo
November 5, 2008 by Duncan · Leave a Comment
The Big Catch Fish ‘n Chips Logo
The food industry has been kind to me lately and even though eateries have been closing down or selling due to the economic situation, from where I’m standing it hasn’t really stopped people from buy these restaurants and setting up shop. I guess no matter what industry you are in everybody has to eat.
Being an Irishmen I have literally been raised eating fish suppers so when I was commissioned to design a logo for the Big Catch Fish ‘n Chips I took it as a medal of honour and coincidentally that was the direction I went with when designing the logo.
I wanted to incorporate one of those lifesaver rings that hang on the sides of boats so I started off with that but instead of making it look like the stereotypical kind of safety device I used the company’s blue to colour it. Next I surrounded the outside of the graphic with rope which represents boats, docks and all that marine stuff.
Because this is not you’re regular Fish and Chip shop I decided to put some nautical starts that also show that it is a 5 star restaurant to give it a bit of class and then of course the fish caught in the fisherman’s net.
Plain, simple and beautifully illustrated this logo says a lot by packing in a little story but lacks the complexities of a novel just like all logos should do.
