Umami Sushi

Menu design • Brand Refresh

Umami Sushi is a Japanese restaurant and bar based in San Marcos. They specialize in over 20 types of custom sushi rolls. They have a variety of offerings from sashimi and poke bowls to chicken katsu and udon. Fresh fish, cold drinks, and a casual atmosphere are fundamental elements of the restaurant's success. I was contracted to redesign their menu and create a new brand identity.

Illustration

Hand-drawn illustrations blended with organic shapes and grainy textures helped bring a human element and hand-crafted feel to the design. This aesthetic symbolized the unique offerings, hand-made sushi rolls, and casual atmosphere of the restaurant.

Animation

Stop- motion animation adds energy and playfulness to the illustrations.

Typography & Color

The characters in the original logo inspired the custom typeface for the section headers. A clean San Serif font was used for the menu items and descriptions to increase legibility even at a smaller size.

There are 3 primary brand colors. Dark Slate (pulled from the original logo), Red, and Blue. The red and blue colors are inspired by the balance of opposites. This is most evident at the beginning of the dinner menu with the cold and hot appetizer sections.

Dinner Menu

The layout inspiration for the dinner menu was to break it up in small sections to represent the sections of a bento box. The dinner menu was designed to lay flat on the restaurant table tops covered in glass.

Certain illustrations (chopsticks and bowls) were purposely spit between multiple sections. This was inspired by traditional Japanese fine art where one continuous composition was painted on multiple panels (Byobu).

Lunch Menu & Sushi Menu

The lunch and sushi menus are laminated, stand-alone menus that are passed out upon request. The sushi menu is a checklist of over 20 varieties of custom sushi rolls!

Drink Menu

Sake, beer, wine, happy :)