Paper Moon by Catherine Renee Dimalla

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CLIENT

A bou­tique Chi­nese restau­rant that pays homage to the aes­thet­ics of his­tor­i­cal Chi­na­town and the mis­con­cep­tions of Chi­nese cul­ture prop­a­gat­ed dur­ing the art deco peri­od. By day, the restau­rant serves a dim sum lunch ser­vice and by night, a blend­ing of Amer­i­can dish­es con­struct­ed from Chi­nese ingredients.

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BRIEF

The project involved cre­at­ing a visu­al­ly engag­ing con­cept restau­rant that pro­vid­ed a chal­leng­ing frame­work for a full scale iden­ti­ty exe­cu­tion. My response was Paper Moon—the name alone ref­er­ences a clas­sic Harold Arlen song from the time peri­od and the glam­orous mis­con­cep­tions sur­round­ing Chi­nese cul­ture at the time. Chal­lenges includ­ed cre­at­ing a logo sys­tem that suc­cess­ful­ly mar­ried the illus­tra­tive and com­plex visu­al sys­tems of yes­ter­day with mod­ern tastes. Addi­tion­al­ly, it was a chal­lenge to take a range of ornate and vibrant visu­al ele­ments and make them visu­al­ly cohesive.

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APPROACH

The pack­ag­ing designs seen in Chi­na­town today are left­overs from post-war Amer­i­ca where Chi­nese facil­i­ties import­ing goods into the coun­try were no longer able to invest in new designs and have been mar­ket­ing the same basic pack­ag­ing for over 70 years. The full logo ref­er­ences a tra­di­tion­al Chi­nese ban­ner and tas­sel with a lay­ered look that reveals a cres­cent moon. I approached the day menu as a tac­tile hang­ing lantern to address dim sum as an order­ing process, and the evening ser­vice menu has a more tra­di­tion­al for­mat with a gold foil seal and tas­sel. Ref­er­ences to stereo­typ­i­cal for­tune cook­ie say­ings are seen on the gift enve­lope and for­tune enve­lope which holds the patron’s bill.

This class project allows the student to self-author a restaurant and complete all the accompanying branding for the experience. In Catherine’s case, the topic itself is very interesting and thoroughly thought out. The actual design of the materials is no less thorough in its use of design elements: typography, paper, and color. The overall final solution is a fully integrated and visceral experience. Her stunning solution exceeded typical expectations for this project but what is not evident in the images is her exacting methodology and wide approach to the problem. Simply stated: an enviable and beautiful piece of professionalism. — Kent Smith, Instructor at Western Washington University