Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Portfolio
Project Brief: The Golden Coast is a start-up restaurant in Bethany Beach, DE, that services breakfast and lunch. The Golden Coast is dog-friendly and allergen-friendly, encouraging customers to bring their pets to enjoy the outdoor seating area and providing customers a safe experience.
I started this project in 2023 and continued to expand on the brand for my self-authorship project in 2024.
The inspiration behind the brand
I have always wanted to open a small beachfront restaurant, so when I imagined this restaurant, I placed it in my favorite beach town and offered potential customers the same things I was looking for in a restaurant.
I have an allergy so it makes dining out difficult, but restaurants that offer allergy information and accommodations always make an unforgettable experience, something I would love to give others someday.
I am also a dog lover and wish I could take my dogs – Golden Retrievers – everywhere with me, so making this dog-friendly was a calculated choice since it would have an outdoor seating area due to its location.
The Goal: Start with a logo design, menu, and dog menu. For my self-authorship, I wanted to go further with this brand and focus on the start-up features, such as creating a printed flyer and a mobile event announcement on social media, as well as an allergen menu and a website.
Ideation/Brainstorming
In 2023, I started by creating a mood board from Pinterest, showing images of Golden Retrievers, the beach, menus, and different color options. I then began mind mapping and sketching logos. I wanted this logo to give the illusion of a wave, connecting the restaurant's location, and creating a submark using the G and C from The Golden Coast’s name.
Hand Drawn to Digital Logo
I chose typography that portrayed a professional and high-quality restaurant, leaving out the typical playfulness associated with dogs from the logo design. I wanted the quality of the restaurant to show through in the logo since this was the main brand, while the dog-friendly and allergen-friendly were additions to the restaurants. I chose a color palette that highlighted an ocean sky and water, and the bold colors of a sunset.
Final Logo
Menu Ideation
When sketching the menus, I chose a 3-fold menu, sectioning out items by breakfast, lunch, drinks, and desserts.
Final Menu
Dog Menu Ideation
For the dog menus, I wanted a much looser and playful typography since the dog-friendly feature of the restaurant shouldn’t show the same professionalism, but should cater more to dog owners, who know that dogs are anything but professional. This dog menu showed various options for meals, as well as information about purchasing an engraved dog bowl with The Golden Coasts logo.
Final Dog Menu
Self-Authorship
Event Flyer Ideation
When creating the event flyer, I sketched several ideas, including various layouts, and image options, highlighting the dog-friendly features, etc.
Hand Drawn to Digital Flyer
I created compositions for each sketch and decided that the first flyer showed the information clearly, depicted a relevant image to the menu items to expect, and had enough negative space that it didn’t overwhelm the viewer. I ended up choosing the first variation since the call-out caught the viewers' attention the best and included an image of a meal that could be seen at the restaurant.
In-Progress Flyer Updates
When finalizing the event flyer, I altered the colors to stay consistent with the original brand and make the flyer brighter. Matching this brighter color scheme, I chose a more vibrant image of food.
Final Flyer
Final Social Media Flyer
I also created a social media campaign post to highlight this event. If a company is advertising its opening, it needs to reach a wide audience, so turning to social media is a great option. This carousel Instagram post included the same information as the event flyer but focused on each screen with a different topic. The first screen would show the opening date and the callout for the event, the next focused on the actual restaurant and what it offered, while the last screen focused on the dog-friendly feature and included this engraved dog bowl mentioned on the dog menu.
Allergen Menu Ideation
I wanted to focus on recognizable icons for allergies on the allergen menu, so I created icons for the seven most popular allergies. I wanted a simple layout for this menu, with a clear purpose – to inform the customer of allergy information, instead of going into detail about each ingredient. If every ingredient was listed on the allergen menu, this would take away from the high-quality service promised by any restaurant, leaving customers no longer needing to ask their server questions even though one of their job descriptions is to help customers.
Final Allergen Menu
Website Ideation
The Golden Coast needed a website, so users could gather information about the restaurant as well as dog and allergy information. This website gave me a way to include all these features in one spot and provide easy navigation for the user. I sketched a low-fidelity wireframe focusing on the About, Contact, Gallery, Menu, and Homepage showing the opening event and quick information about the dog rules, found images off FreePix.com, and created the website on Adobe Portfolio.
