El Nacional
Branding and signage
Client:
El Nacional
Location:
Shanghai
Deliverables:
Wall art
Signage
Brand and in-store collateral
Brand identity and development
The Story.
Sometimes you win clients by talking really loudly in the boardroom. Sometimes, with a bottle of mojo picon sauce and strange fate, you win them just by being… you.
That’s how El Nacional came about when a long term client sent us a draft of his new restaurant logo in an MS Word doc. Just one look, and we had to intervene. Spanish Inquisitiveness be damned.
Truth is, we were right for the job – we had the Spanish Fly on our side! An authentic Spaniard from the Canary Islands who, besides swearing fluently in Spanish, never failed to point out how much our pronunciation sucked every time we copy-checked the menu by reading it aloud.
Our Solution.
The design of El Nacional in Shanghai was inspired by its namesake in Barcelona, where different stalls represent the multitude of dishes and cuisine Spain has to offer. If you’re from Spain, this means choice. In China though… majority of mainland consumers are familiar with paella, but the buck might stop there.
To ensure the restaurant appealed to local customers, we decided on four key signage that would act as a beacon for diners between the main food stations. We used a clean and elegant typeface for the logo and all in-store branding, conveying a simple warmth to help Chinese consumers feel settled, and at home.
