After creating my ‘faux’ business, the next steps were to research potential competitors, establish my aesthetic goals, and learn more about who my audience would be. The project became a fun challenge, as I had to create a brand for a business that, personally, I’d have little interest in, but would still be positively impacted by if I passed its advertising in the street.

Sashimi because a restaurant built for a young, hip audience that would go for the image, before the food. I could picture people visiting and taking pictures of the décor and their food and posting it to an Instagram story. In a nutshell, the brand must create a stimulating experience for its customers, that make it a talking point between friends. People should be excited to visit and fulfilled once they leave.

It was a heavily visually based project, and one of the sources I got inspiration from was the brand guide that was published in 2016 by YO! Sushi. The book was 200 pages long, broadcasting a whole redesign, orchestrated by Paul Belford Ltd, and covered everything from menus to noren curtains. I got a good idea then of the assets that I’d need to provide for my own brand, and how these would be useful for the business. I started looking into patterns inspired by Japanese culture, and current visual trends that would attract the audience I was aiming at.