Beluga Sushi Sensation

On Friday evening I truly had one of the best dining experiences of my life. It was my mothers birthday so I decided to take her and the family to one of the most talked about sushi spots in Cape Town, Beluga. I had high expectations for their quality of food and service and all my expectations were exceeded. You either have the option to sit inside or outside in their lovely terrace. I booked an inside table but when I arrived I was quite disappointed as I made the wrong decision, the outside terrace is absolutely breathtaking and the vibe was amazing.

Inside was a little more intimate though, we were lucky enough to get a window seat. Their decor is very classy, I love the combination of large black and white photographs against a brown face-brick wall. It really ties in with the corporate identity of the restaurant.

Our waiter was probably one of the best waiters I have ever been served by. He was friendly and had a great knowledge about every single item on the menu, he even gave his recommendations on what we should order. We all started off with some lovely cocktails, and then came the main course. I decided to try the duck and sweet BBQ sauce Dim Sim as I have heard some great things about this dish. That Dim Sim was without a doubt the most tastiest dish I have ever eaten! Prawn California Rolls, Prawn Maki and Tuna Crunch was among the sushi dishes we order. The presentation of the food was also beautiful.

The waiter was kind enough to bring my mom a beautifully decorated desert plate wishing her a happy birthday as well as a cocktail on the house. I felt like this made her evening extra special and she deserves nothing less. A perfect night for the perfect mom.

Now on to the good stuff. The corporate branding of Beluga is exactly what I would expect from such a fine restaurant.  I couldn't get my hands on their business card but I did however download thier menu from their website. Their logo is simplistic and easy to read which is exactly what you want when it comes to logo design for an elegant restaurant. Their menu makes use of sans-serif fonts, bold colours (red, black and white) and large images to really sell the product. The layout is clean cut (geometric) and the content of the menu really explains each and every dish perfectly.



I also love their website design, it feels like you are viewing a magazine, once again large images are used which is great as people are more inclined to remember images rather than "boring" text. All their design elements have continuity, even the sister restaurants match the overall branding of the Caviar Group (Beluga forms part of this restaurant group) take a look at their website for yourself: http://www.beluga.co.za/
The Caviar Resturant group website: http://www.caviar.co.za/

Although I didn't get a business card with Beluga branding, I did however manage to get my hands on the Caviar Group and Seruga Restaurant business cards. I love the Seruga logo the most out of all the logo's for the Caviar Group. It is creative and distinguished all at the same time, the black and white also works stunning together. I like that the logo is big on the front and that the contact details are on the back, as you are trying to sell the brand not the contact numbers.

Once again their branding proves that less is more "Keep It Simple Stupid" (KISS) is a great motto to live by when designing elements for restaurants. I applaud the graphic designer who worked on the Caviar Group's branding, a job well done. Beluga will be seeing a lot more of me in the future, and I can't wait to try the rest of their food on their menu.

Cape Town Pride

My mother and sister at the waterfront standing in front of Table Mountain

Today is a very important day if you are a Capetonian, we are hours away from knowing if our beloved Table Mountain will be named one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. When I found out we were nominated I was kind of surprised Table Mountain has never been named one of the 7 wonders before? It is a flat mountain top in the middle of a city? It doesn't get more wonderful than that. This year is a great year to be proudly Capetonian, first we were announced as being the Design Capital for 2014, and hopefully by tomorrow we will be calling the pride of Cape Town a seventh wonder of the world.

There is a lot of speculation around The Vote for Table Mountain / New7Wonders Campaign as being a money making scheme, I disagree, I think it is a great way to unite Capetonians and encourage them to stand together and vote for something that is greater than us. In the end, if Table Mountain is chosen as one of the Seven Wonders, it will benefit us through the influx of tourists, therefore money will be at our hands once again. It will also finally put the people from Johannesburg to rest, ending the war between the North and the South, as Cape Town will ultimately be known as the best city in South Africa.

The people behind the Vote For Table Mountain Campaign has really made good use of social media. Twitter and Facebook has allowed them to encourage thousands of South Africans to vote. Their website is also beautiful, clean and inviting. The retro theme was once again used in their designs. If you want an idea or brand to sell fast make use of bold colours like red and blue and that is exactly what the Vote for Table Mountain brand did. They had a short time to make an impact therefore they needed to create something which will catch the public's eye immediately. Take a look for yourselves http://www.votefortablemountain.com/

Even Though The New7Wonders Foundation is taking a large cut out of the SMS voting I feel that if we all stand together and vote like crazy through remaining 3 hours and Table Mountain is chosen, we will all benefit from it tremendously. You can vote by SMSing "Table" to 34874, you can also vote via Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/New7WondersofNature?sk=app_114026852036251.

The other nominees can be viewed on this page: http://www.new7wonders.com/28-finalists when voting on line make sure that you select Table Mountain as one of your favourites and lets make 11:11:11 a truly memorable day!

At the start of the year my company took us to Table Mountain, it symbolized our hope to prosper to great heights throughout the year that followed. I took some snapshots on by cellphone and I would like to share them with you:

11 reasons why I love Table Mountain:

• It is the first thing to greet me in the morning on the way to work.
• Even on the coldest and cloudiest of days Table Mountain still looks beautiful.
• The white blanket which covers Table Mountain in the mornings is absolutely breathtaking.
• Table Mountain even looks beautiful at night with the blue lights which light up our own natural wonder.
• Table Mountain is not alone, it is accompanied by Lions Head, Signal Hill and Devils Peak all of these places have spectacular views from the top.
• Table Mountain is surrounded by both sea and land.
• You can see the whole of Cape Town from the Top of Table Mountain.
• When I come back from holiday, I know I am home when I catch a glimps of Table Mountain.
• When the sun hits Table Mountain you know its time to gather your sun tanning oil and towel and hit Clifton 4th or Camps Bay beach.
• The view of Table Mountain is the only view you ever need to see!
• There is no better sunset than the one you will see in Cape Town all thanks to the beautiful creation by mother nature.

Table Mountain was with us from the beginning so lets be with it until the end, we love our mountain so lets show it off to the world and Vote!

Retro Love

Design styles change at an alarming rate and it's kind of difficult to keep up with all the latest trends in design. Just like clothing, design has to be trendy young and fresh to keep the customers and public entertained. Filigree and floral patterns were very popular a while back, yes a while back so for those who are still using it please STOP! It is messy and over cluttered, you loose the focal point of the design as it is surrounded by junk. Unfortunately I have to design with filigree every day, as it is the branding of one of our clients, I wish I could give them a complete revamp, but people are always reluctant to change. I, however, feel reinventing yourself and your brand is one of the greatest ways to succeed and move forward!

For those of you who don't know what filigree is I have included an example:

The design style that is currently trending is retro, sometimes you have to take a few steps back to make a giant leap forward. Retro is also currently trending in clothing design, but it is a redefined retro, one that is more suited for the people of today. Polariod cameras are loved again, and colour leaks on photographs are not seen as unfortunate mishaps but are now seen as captions of beauty, some people even edit these in using PS. The style used for infographics is also stunning, it takes boring information and presents it in a interesting way. I'm currently trying the retro design style out on a part-time project I am working on for a college.

This style of design is definitely an improvement from the filigree, and I hope it lasts a long time. For more awesome infographics check out this link, http://abduzeedo.com/super-creative-infographics-column-five I am sure you will enjoy it.   

Commercial Favourites Round 2

Advertising is the ultimate way to exercise your creativity. When I see a product advertisement I love to practice my creative skills by trying to think of better ideas, I even sometimes look in my grocery cupboard or fridge and try and think of ways to sell the products I already own. I don't know if I am crazy by doing that but I love the fact that us as designers have the creative ability to influence other people's choices and emotions. A movie or series can take up to 1-2 hours to influence a persons emotions where a great television commercial can influence your emotions within 2-3 minutes. Advertising is like mind control, you will eventually buy products from the brands which advertise the most, I can guarantee that!

Here is another combination of my favorite TV commercials:

Nando's Double Breasted Burger

Nando's definitely has the funniest and most talked about commercials. Many of their commercials cause a lot of controversy, but this is usually intentional as there is no such thing as bad media, as long as they have the public's attention they're winning. The Double Breasted Burger commercial is an all time classic, a dumb blonde who can't find her chips because her breasts are too large is a clever comparison with Nando's chicken breasts which are also as large.

Fiat Don't Touch My Car

The Don't Touch My Car commercial by Fiat is an advert that was created many years ago and yet it still stuck with me. I think it has stuck with me because every time I saw it air I couldn't stop laughing. The biker got #Owned!

Nike Football Write The Future

Nike Football has some of the most amazing adverts, the graphics are brilliant and they always go big or go home. The Write The Future TV commercial for the 2010 FIFA World Cup gives me goosebumps every time I watch it, maybe it is because I love football, or maybe it's because I am Portuguese and Cristiano Ronaldo ends off the commercial? The concept is brilliant as Nike wanted to show that they would be the one's to write the future due to the quality of their football boots.

FIFA12 Commercial

Okay I am a little bias at the moment by selecting another football commercial as one of my favorites but you will soon realize that my love for football is just as great as my love for design. I love the commercial for the new FIFA12 game, this is exactly how I and probably millions of other people feel about football so they really set their sites on their target market! Although I don't know how to play FIFA this advertisement really enticed me to want to learn so I can be part of the football FIFA craze.

Heineken UEFA Champions League commercial

The majority of alcohol advertisements are brilliant especially the UEFA Champions League commercials by Heineken. I also really enjoyed the Carlsberg commercials. Maybe its because the wedding seen in their commercial would ultimately be my dream wedding!

Carlsberg Wedding Commercial

I hope you enjoyed my selection of my favorite commercials, if you know of anymore amazing ones feel free to share it with me! 

A glass and a half full

The Harbour House is a well known seafood restaurant in Kalk Bay, I have never been there before but they have some amazing reviews. Last night I was lucky enough to be invited by the lovely Jhordan's Sister to attend the launch of their new branch at the V&A Waterfront. The restaurant is perfectly situated and boasts some spectacular views. The decor is elegant, pure white with subtle hints of green, which is fitting as the interior looks like a getaway house by the sea.

On arrival we were greeted with some lovely bubble, J.C. Le Roux and my personal favourite Graham Beck. The perfect way to kick off any event. Next came the unending flow of canapes and wine. From sushi to beef kebabs and lets not forget the truffles (over indulged on that one) the choices were limitless. I accompanied my canapes with some fantastic white wines, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, my favourite wine for the evening was definitely the Splattered Toad Sauvignon Blanc, then again I did have the wine at the end of the night so my tasting was a bit impaired. Their food is absolutely amazing, I have never in my life tasted anything like it, and I have a great passion for seafood, prawns is after all my favourite type of food. The combination of flavours and the quality of thier food is mere perfection and I would gladly eat there time and time again!

Some lovely oysters, I stayed away from these.

Red wine and bubbly selection..

Tuna canape and red wine selection..

Best sushi ever...

Prawn cocktail and dessert tray...

Shante and I after a couple of glasses of wine, as well as truffles, truffles!

 
Graham Beck and Pongracz bubbly...

I was lucky enough to get a snap shot of their menu design and business card. Their menu is simple, but then again so is their decor, so it is very fitting. At least the sheets of paper are inserted into a lovely blue leather backing. I suppose it is way easier to update and print the menu this way.

The design of their business card is a bit disappointing, it feels extremely unbalanced, and their is major inconsistency in the size of font. The blue and white colour choice is lovely, and the contrasting orange of the fish makes the card pop. I definitely would have made the card double sided, enlarged the logo on the front, and put the contact details on the back,  it would free up some white space and really convey the simplicity of their decor. The font choice is great though! 

Their website is terrible and it really needs to be redone, a simple white background with large images of the food and interior (without wide image transitions) will work lovely. Their logo on their website also does not match the logo on their business card. The Harbour House website should only be branded specifically for Harbour House and no other logos should be present on their website otherwise people will get confused and brand awareness will fail miserably and we all know how important brand awareness is! I think the restaurant relies on word of mouth advertising and people will indeed talk about how stunning their decor and food is, but the branding should imply it too. Take a look for yourself. http://www.harbourhouse.co.za/harbourhouse

I will definitely be going back their, and if you are a seafood lover like I am I would recommend it immensely as it is by far the best seafood restaurant in town!