Gramercy Bagels by Hee Ra Kim

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CLIENT

A small bagel shop in the Gramer­cy neigh­bor­hood in New York, NY. This shop is famous for their soft bagels—they also sell sand­wich­es, pas­tries, cook­ies, etc. There­fore, chil­dren and old peo­ple are fre­quent clients.

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BRIEF

I picked one of the loca­tions on 3rd Avenue between 23rd Street and 14th Street in New York and I redesigned the entire business.

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APPROACH

First, deter­mine the prob­lems of its cur­rent brand­ing. Vis­it place, take pic­tures, and research the his­to­ry. What do they sell? What’s their sto­ry? Who are their com­peti­tors? And cre­ate a mood board of what I think it should feel like: col­ors, type­faces, and mate­ri­als. Think about who the audi­ence will be. Choose my favorite logo sketch­es and test them on how they would extend to oth­er sur­faces. Make refine­ments on a cou­ple of cho­sen logos and start apply­ing it across the sys­tem. Refine design, and flush out the entire sys­tem. Because the tar­get audi­ence is chil­dren, I redesign it with their per­spec­tive in mind.

The beauty about this identity system is its flexibility and playfulness. It works as a simple sticker in the packaging all the way to a fun iPad game for kids. A bagel is like a blank canvas you can then start dressing up without getting bored. — Julia Hoffmann, Professor at School of Visual Arts