Logo Rough Draft

My inspiration behind the design was the pun I always use to describe friends that love food: Tastebuds. I’ve always wanted to make a t-shirt design or logo that says Let’s Be Tastebuds, with some cute food images included.

I traced images of an ice cream and pizza shape and then implemented the circle tool to create the eyes.  I used a bit of the gradient tool to give a little bit of shading with the top of the ice cream’s pink color. I used the circular tool again to create the pepperonis and the scissor tool to create the half pepperoni as well. I also utilized the pen tool to draw out the smiling faces.

I utilized the text tool to make the Let’s Be Tastebuds sentence run across the design.

The logo relates to my project because my blog is literally called The Tastebuds. Being able to connect people through food is my biggest passion. There is no greater joy than to be able to cook something for someone else or to take them to eat food. I always go into eating with friends with the mindset of sharing my experiences with them. I’ve been to some incredible restaurants in my life, and to be able to say let me bring you into my world is something powerful. Food is not just the physical act of eating or nutrients, but rather it is the experience as a whole. Nobody can communicate how amazing a meal or restaurant was without taking someone else. I believe food is very much a universal language, everyone understands it and can come to love it. I just want to be able to share in those memories. I want to be able to hopefully give the tastebuds t-shirts to my friends so they can always have a piece of me with them.

Sketch Idea

I’ve wanted to make a cute food logo for my Tastebuds motto. I’ve always wanted a tastebud t-shirt or something, so I drew a smiley face pizza and ice cream and wanted to have The Tastebuds in nice text across the shirt.

Illustrator Tutorials

Final Graphic Design

My inspiration for this final graphic stems from my love of food. There wasn’t much research I had to do because I knew exactly what I wanted my design to communicate. I wanted to tell a story through food and use pictures of dishes that each held a significance in my life.

The first picture is a trotter and kimchi dish from Trove restaurant in Seattle. I selected the dish because Trove represents group dining. This was a place I ate at with my big family. Trove was also the last meal I ate before my nephew was born. The restaurant holds importance in this regard. It not only represents the fun of eating with family; but just like a starting course, it is new and a first experience, much like my nephew being born.

The second dish is Kara Miso Ramen from Hokkaido Santouka in Bellevue. Ramen or any kind of noodle soup is my absolute favorite thing to eat. This picture was taken at a dinner with my best friend. This ramen represents the friendship we have and how something so simple can be complex. The ramen reflects this as well. The ramen has saffron in it, an expensive dish utilized in something so simple and seen as a poor man’s dish.

The last course is a mochi medley from Nishino restaurant in Seattle. This dish has a lot of color and was a perfect end to my Omakase dinner. This was my birthday dinner with my brother and his wife. My siblings are much older than I am so it can be difficult at times to connect with them. It has been because of food my eldest brother and his wife have been able to bond so strongly. I love that this dish was able to bring us together.

I started with a sample menu template from the website https://www.canva.com/. I removed the text on the menu and replaced it with the text editor on photoshop. I titled the menu dishes of my life. One thing I changed from my rough draft was titling each course a different thing. One of my peer feedbacks suggested I tie the stories better with the actual dishes. I tried to give more anecdotes for each of the courses.

I also removed the masked Michelin Man symbol from my menu. Michelin represents some of the best restaurants in the world, but I realized from my peer review feedback that he might be too esoteric for some people. I got rid of him for better spacing and balance composition on menu. I wanted to remove a lot of negative space from the original rough draft. Other suggestions included more balanced photos and moving them slightly. I opted for a different stroke color and a sleeker design than the original. I changed the stroke color from a bold orange to a thin gray.

With the additional added text, I wanted to give flare to the titles of the dishes with a golden text, but then balance it out with black text. I also made sure my place embedded photos were more balanced than before for a stronger composition.

Overall I am happier with the look of my final design and I am glad I was able to share my stories of food!

 

 

Graphic Design Rough Draft

The inspiration for this idea comes from the idea of creating food to tell stories and be a reflection of life experiences and character. At the time I didn’t realize all the dishes I selected had an Asian theme to them; Asian food is my favorite kind of food, so I guess that shouldn’t surprise me too much.

The appetizer course was trotter fritters with kimchi aioli from Trove restaurant in Seattle. Trove is unique because it is four restaurant concepts in one. Trove is one part noodle bar, one part Korean bbq,  one part bar, and one part parfait area. Trove represents the fun sides of restaurants and group dining. Trove is multifaceted like me. I also resonate with it for another reason. Trove was the last restaurant I ate at before meeting my just born nephew at the time.

The second course is a stunning kara miso ramen from Hokkaido Santouka in Seattle. Noodle soups are my absolute favorite dish and most likely the thing I could eat every day till I die. The kara miso ramen is complex and a labor of love. The broth simmers and cooks with pork bones to give it texture and creaminess. The kara represents flowers, as the dish has saffron threads. Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world. I love how a simple and ubiquitous street dish like ramen can have so much nuance and layers to it. Ramen doesn’t always have to be elevated with finer ingredients like saffron, but it is an example of what is possible with the world of food. The photo was also taken at a dinner with my best friend. Food with friends always tastes better.

The last dish is one of my favorite desserts: Mochi ice cream. This was from a birthday dinner from a classy Japanese restaurant in Seattle. This was a birthday dinner I went to with my brother and his wife. In recent years, my older brother and I have truly been able to bond over food and dining out at new and exciting places. He is much older than I am so it can be difficult to relate to him at times. I truly treasure the time I get to have with him through food.

For the creation of this design, I took a menu template off of the website Canva. I erased all the actual words from the menu to make room for my pictures. I simply embedded each of my photos to the corresponding course title. I also wanted to include a nod to my love of travel and fine dining with the Michelin man. I found his photo off of flickr and I used the masking technique to have him blend seamlessly into the menu. I also noticed a common tone to my pictures, so I wanted to include a polaroid esque feel to the photos by adding the orange colored strokes.

Graphic Design Project Photo Ideas

I would like to make a visual menu format. I picked 3 foods that I thought could represent who I am as a person or my life.

Photoshop Tutorials

Here are my photoshop works!

First blog post

Hello!