I have recently created the logo design for ‘The Luxury Restaurant Guide’, an online guide to showcase the best fine dining places within any given area, whilst also being a club to promote discreet exclusive offers. The company slogan – “Inspiring dining destinations”.
The Design Brief
With over 15 years experience behind the scenes, the company aim to create the leading guide for people to choose, find and book good restaurants, competing with established restaurant listings such as Michelin, AA, Hardens and OpenTable, as well as top end clubs such as Taste Card, Gourmet Society and hi life.
The target audience is niche, being an audience who want to find unique places, hidden treasures to claim their own, and at prices that allow them to dine regularly in quality destinations. These are people who eat out regularly, enjoy fine wines, travel, are well-read and sophisticated.
The business wanted a subtle and sophisticated logo, which could be used both online and offline, as well as being used as an app icon. The design needed to be on par with well-known luxury brands such as Bamford, Boodles and Louis Vuitton.
With intentions to grow the business, the new identity needed to have scope to expand to The Luxury Venue Guide, The Luxury Spa Guide and The Luxury Restaurant Club.
Creating a Luxury Logo Design
Possibly one of the most challenging aspects of this identity was creating a logo which could be adapted for the different business names at a later date. It meant that ideally it would not be specifically designed for restaurants or guides, but instead portray the only consistent factor, which was ‘Luxury’.
To get this design right, it required a thought exercise. How can I visually portray ‘luxury’? The dictionary definition is “a state of great comfort or elegance, especially when involving great expense.”
My initial thoughts was a crown or diamond, however, these concepts have been overused, so it was something ideally I wanted to avoid in order to create a unique and identifiable identity.
What shape can be deemed as ‘luxury’? My decision was a circle, and the reason is because it’s flawless – no seams, corners or imperfections. It’s elegant and essentially perfect. For a logo, however, a circle doesn’t work alone – not in this case anyway. So to expand on this concept I considered creating a shape for a luxury service…
A luxury service, in simple terms, is a collection of individual perfect pieces working in harmony together to make one single perfect service. This means that an interlocking ring of rings can portray a luxury service. This concept would work well to both represent a luxury guide, as well as a club. It can also visually look like a group of individuals around a table eating dinner to symbolise a restaurant. The perfect solution!
To take this concept one step further, an award icon was designed which could act as both a logo, as well as an award which destinations could display in marketing collateral with pride.
The Final Designed Logo
The final logo design, presented on the right is elegant and luxurious. A meaningful identity which works well across its group of companies, whilst also being a recognisable award which can be displayed by the finest destinations.
The client was extremely happy with the final product, providing the below testimonial.
“We approached Ian to design a new logo for our company re-branding exercise and I am delighted with both the results and the design process.
From the initial contact by web enquiry, the understanding of the brief, the processes and pertinent questioning, Ian’s artful creative suggestions together with his design rationale for our selection have all been first class and highly professional. Feedback was careful considered, listened to and welcomed.
It was obvious that Ian is a real craftsman with a design integrity and passion and I feel he went well beyond his brief to accomplish something endearingly timeless for us. It was extremely pleasant working with Ian, and I most certainly would use him again for other assignments and in recommending him to others. Thank you, Logo Geek.”
If you would like to see further examples of my work, please take a look at my logo design portfolio, or if you would like to work with me on your business logo design please contact me for a proposal.
