WHERE

A couple years ago we helped our favourite Izakaya, a Japanese tapas-like restaurant called Hapa Izakaya, rebuild their online presence with a new website. The ensuing years saw more expansion to other locations, and to launch their new, upscale Japanese restaurant, they came back to us.

IDEAS

Unsure if the new concept should be an extension of the existing brand, or break entirely free from it, the client needed our objective opinion to move forward, and the clock was ticking on opening day. Ultimately, though the concept was to be more a sophisticated dining experience with a different targeted clientele, we felt that the Hapa Umi brand should leverage the tremendous equity they already enjoy with the Hapa Izakaya brand.

Working from that foundation, we took original Japanese artwork for a new, more refined Umi ‘chop’ and combined it with new typography based on the Hapa Izakaya wordmark. The predominantly white on black colour scheme was retained along with the addition of grey.

Research on fine dining revealed a tendency to showcase food rather than environments. Photography for Hapa Umi would follow this model, while for the more casual Izakayas, we would initiate a transition to people and environments to create a greater distinction between the two concepts.

WORK

Once the logo and wordmarks were finalized, we directed menu design and creation, signage and print collateral requirements on a rather tight timeline. The somewhat challenging location in the core business and tourist area downtown means visibility for walk-by traffic is essential. Through on-site assessment, negotiation with the landlord, and close collaboration with the sign vendor we have been able to maximize exposure and retain this brand extension throughout the project. A new website was also designed and built to capture online visits in advance of the opening, and a new more extensive site is planned for a later date.

As predicted based on the success of the current restaurants, Hapa Umi opened on time to large crowds and has not disappointed even the toughest critics.

“We would highly recommend the team at Industrial Brand for any of your branding or website needs. The people at IB are intensely passionate about what they do and it shows in their work. While passion is important, know how and skill are equally important factors that contribute to the finished product. With IB, we feel that this combination gives their clients not only great value but also excellent results. Would we work with IB again?  Absolutely!” – Justin and Lea Ault, Proprietors, Hapa Izakaya and Hapa Umi

There’s something happily surreal about sipping on your morning coffee and reading the newspaper when you stumbled across a story about a client’s success story. Very nice indeed.

A few years ago we designed the logo, brand identity system and website for a proposed state of the art sports training, medicine and therapy complex in Burnaby called The MultiSport Centre of Excellence. After years of delays, the construction has finally begun with a ground-breaking ceremony.

Congratulations to all involved in the project!

We’re proud to have recently designed the new brand identity and website for Jakes Construction.

A contracting company that started fifteen years ago with one man named Jake, this family-owned company grew to be one of the largest construction firms in the Fraser Valley. Their previous identity no longer represented the large group of professionals or the high quality work they produced, so hired us to evolve their brand.

We worked with our client to identify the key qualities of the new Jakes, Capable, Dependable, Resourceful, Down-to-earth, Professional and Progressive, which we used to guide our design process.

The result was a name change from “Jake’s”, implying one person, to the more inclusive plural “Jakes” and switching from “Contracting”, a word that has the perception of a small-operation, to “Construction”, which more accurately reflects the level and scale of their operations.

Using our new understanding of their brand, we developed a clean, simple logo as part of a brand identity that reflected the main attributes that underpin everything they do, from how they interact with their clients to the smallest to details of their work.

As part of their new identity, we created a full brand strategy platform, online styleguide resource with templates and brand elements as well as produced a promotional campaign, collateral system and new website to tell their story. Congratulations Jakes on the new look!

We’ve enjoyed collaborating with our friends at Mercury Filmworks as their design team for many years and were proud to develop and launch their new identity as part of their 10 year anniversary celebrations. Using elements of the previous identity (also designed by Industrial Brand) to create a sense of synergy with the company’s past, our concept was a much friendlier logo more reflective of the brand character and tone of the company Mercury has become over the past decade.

Mercury has evolved from a production-oriented studio to a full-service animation house capable of producing feature-length family films, so we sought to create a similar transition from a technical and impersonal planet-themed identity to one that softens and personifies the company. Having a significant portion of their work come from family programming of their own creation also provided an opportunity to introduce a more whimsical design evocative of childhood and nostalgia. The use of a child launching a paper airplane silhouetted against another planet is symbolic of potential, dreams, aspiration, creativity and imagination, and creates an even stronger connection to Mercury’s tag line: Imagination Advanced.

As part of the new identity, we created a full brand strategy platform, online styleguide resource with templates and brand elements as well as consulted on a number of internal initiatives as part of the new rollout. Congratulations Mercury Filmworks on a successful 10 years!