AKA (branding)

Project Type: Restaurant
Client: AKA Teppan
Status: Built, May 2015
Location: Toronto, Canada
Design Team: Norman Ung, Abdul Yeung, Peter Lampard, Tony Lai, Hazel Yuen, Casey Chun
Description: Restaurant identity, Design and Branding (1800sq.ft.)

>> Red is generally called "aka （赤）" in Japanese and is perceived as a stimulant. For AKA Teppan, the keen use of red throughout immediately focuses attention on a brand looking to deliver a distinctive culinary experience. <<
AKA Teppan is a Japanese restaurant brand whose cuisine combines a host of unique Teppan recipes with an equally distinctive dining experience. Located in the heart of downtown Toronto, AKA offers a relaxed contemporary dining experience with quality and traditional décor.

A young restaurateur had a vision of bringing a heightened Teppan experience to the downtown Toronto region. His vision was of bringing this idea of cultivated and curated quality back as something worth experiencing. With this idea, the passion for AKA Teppan was born.

The Brief
To create an identity package that celebrates Japanese culture and cuisine as well as communicate the new brand without falling into the stereotypes of the category.
Challenge
- Identify the whitespace in a crowded industry sector: Teppanyaki
- Target the surrounding area which comprised of university students and the general public alike
- Develop a passion-forward brand focus and build a strategy and identity that communicates it long term
- Design a look across multiple touch points that would grab attention with its confidence

The Solution
We designed and built a restaurant environment and identity package that would serve as a visual manifesto of what it means to be a truly different Japanese culinary experience.

Especially appealing in its confident melding of eastern flavours within a minimalistic western setting, we set out to design the logo to resemble a ‘chop’ incorporating both, the Japanese character 赤 for red as well as a visual representation of a chop of meat. Red was the intended colour to evoke that feeling of warmth and heat as well as drawing on the colours on both flags.

Due to the refined simplicity of the entire design, typography became vitally important. The type had to portray a classic Japanese style combined with an architectural feel. Patterns built from the logo served as the fixtures that would adorn the ceiling and the walls to tie the entire brand identity together.

Japanese design inspired the brand touch points from food menus through interiors and into the brand’s business cards. Custom-built wooden tables with complementing benches, functional ceiling fixtures, and refined wood textures would spearhead the interior design. Wood, crafted paper textures, the combination of a word with design and a colour palette that pulls from the interior design created the foundations of AKA’s identity elements.

AKA Teppan opened to the public in mid-2015 with plans for growth in the not too distant future.