Creating a Brand Identity for Beach Nation
the beach comes to west hollywood
Beach Nation was a joint venture of Schoos Design with other partners to create a new restaurant brand with a beach theme. Because the business did not yet exist, the process involved not only the creation of corporate identity but also fundamental business planning and marketing strategy: How would the brand look and feel? What kind of demographics did it hope to attract? How should the restaurant operate to create the ambiance imagined by the designers?
The unique idea of the restaurant was to bring a beach into the middle of the city, with an actual sand box complete with Adirondack chairs and lounge furniture where guests may kick off their shoes and relax while having a quick lunch or late night beach party. The branding had to convey this unusual concept in an appealing way that is easy to understand.
Research and Strategy
As usual, the process began with an extensive analysis of the concept, the competition and business plan. Then, a search was begun for an effective name. I was the person who proposed the final name. The process of brand identity was then begun including the creation of a logo. After brainstorming on the logo design with the Schoos team, I drew the logo using my own hand as a model.
Beach Nation is now open in West Hollywood, and we are still working with ownership to market the brand.
The above represents pages from the document I wrote, based on discussions with the client and our Business Development executive, to assist the client in clarifying their business strategy and marketing plans. This document set out the brand strategy for not only the first Beach Nation venue but for all future venues and the future of the brand.
My worksheet for renaming Cafe Beach, showing the choice of Beach Nation as the new name.
Choosing a Name
The first step in the branding process was choosing a name. The provisional name had been "Cafe Beach," but this name was too generic to allow for an exclusive trademark or domain name.
My idea was to call the restaurant Beach Nation to give it an edgy, progressive vibe. The political connotations of "nation" imply that the entity is not just a company but a movement -- a lifestyle that is spreading to major cities, much like the surfer lifestyle that has spread from Hawaii and California to all parts of the world.
Creating the logo
Since surf culture is essential to the Beach Nation concept, our branding and business development partner had the idea to incorporate the "shaka" hand signal used by surfers into the logo. I began by photographing my own hand (seen in the photo gallery below) and working on styles of rendering the hand into the logo. I also worked with numerous typographical treatments. Below are some of the "comps" I created on the way to the final logo, seen at the bottom.
Branded Items and Merchandise
The following images demonstrate how the brand identity is used in the restaurant and in retail items sold to the public. The consistent application extends the brand and promotes the "Beach Nation lifestyle."
Branding presentation featuring branded items in the restaurant
Certain clothing items are worn by the Beach Nation staff while others are retail items for sale to the public.
Designing the Website
The look we wanted for the Beach Nation website was trendy and casual with plenty of "sticky" content and responsive design that conforms to multiple devices. I worked with our team and the web developer to create modular content that would be effective as the layout changes from device to device, while supporting the clean but edgy look of the brand.
The success of the website also depends on the extensive photography that I provided, including pristine design shots, promotional shots with people, and food vibe shots.
To see more, visit www.BeachNation.com.
Creating the App
The design of the Beach Nation app is based on the design philosophy and graphics from the website, with additional interactive features such as feeds from social media and push notifications that promote the latest deals. The app consolidates the branding across all platforms while providing an opportunity for expansion into more interactive features as the company grows.
Get the app at the Apple app store or from Google Play.
Creating the Menus
Because of the beachy, casual vibe of the brand, the menus were kept rustic, printed on natural fiber paper and attached with an industrial clip to a homemade clipboard made from reclaimed wood. To allow for multiple pages, I invented the bottom-tabbed format seen below, allowing guests to see the menu categories easily. The To-Go Menu (on the right) includes a silhouette of the restaurant that was drawn by me.
Environmental Graphics / Art
The Beach Nation logo and "Shaka Sign" are used not only in printed and online material but throughout the restaurant itself, as seen in the gallery below. Since I drew the shaka sign from my own hand, one can truly say, both literally and figuratively, that my hand is all over Beach Nation.
