I was tasked to create a project that would fill in the gaps of my portfolio. After doing a deep dive into my portfolio inventory I wanted to include more branding projects that would reflect my capabilities as a designer.

As a Asian American I grew up eating south east Asian cuisine such as Hmong, Thai, and Vietnamese. For this project I created South Eats, a Asian bar and kitchen that serves up authentic south east Asian cuisine. The South Eats logo is a combination of a Thai basil and a compass face. These two items were chosen because their importance to south east Asia, the Thai basil being a major ingredient used in south east Asian cuisine and the compass is used to help point us in the right direction towards south east. I wanted to give South Eats a sophisticated, dark, night life feel that would attract young adults looking for a place to eat and drink before a late night adventure. The linear design was inspired by traditional Hmong embroidery which uses lots of repeat patterns and line work.

The final result was a successful design that embodied all the qualities I was aiming for with South Eats, an authentic night life restaurant with a sophisticated voice. My professor and classmates really enjoyed watching my process as I developed the brand by giving it a distinct voice and target audience. South Eats has grown to be a stand out project within my portfolio, many professional designers were blown away by it’s authentic feel, color, and impact-full design.