Learn How to Say It Right
bánh is a Vietnamese restaurant that encourages people to learn the right way to pronounce their food. As a Vietnamese American, something about hearing people say the word “pho” correctly is so heart-warming or just in general, seeing people respecting the culture the way that it is.
Why is this revolutionary or something that the world needs?
Well, let me ask the question of why is that European languages are more able to get the respect of people naturally with how they romanticize the language itself and culture while Asian languages seem to have more of a “expectation” to dumb down their culture for the sake of those who are not native to the language. But why? Why can’t people learn to how to say it the right way regardless of whatever the language is?
Not only does it feel nice when someone says your childhood’s comfort food right and gives the respect back to your culture. It’s something rewarding to pronounce it right and see the small smiles on the people who are also just trying to make a living in a new country that they are also still learning more about.
I chose the word bánh because it is a simple word but has so many varieties of food that it entails. bánh is a term to describe a range of breads/flour-based foods. It is such a recognizable word that umbrellas such a big amount of Vietnamese cuisine.
When learning a new language, I think it is helpful to start out with everyday terms like food, simple greetings, etc. Food has the opportunity to bring so many people together and that is how bánh became the word I decided to use for my restaurant.
I wanted to give the brand a soft touch to it while still being playful with it. That is why I had chosen to use a font that was more abstract and round. The color palette is based on the ingredients found in some Vietnamese food. A softer version of them to match with the vibe of the logo as the actual ingredients are a bit more vibrant. Even though I wanted to make a restaurant that was similar to current Vietnamese restaurants that have that certain nostalgia, I also thought that it would be beneficial to have something with a more modern twist to it.
A struggle that I was facing was trying to incorporate a modern touch to something that I still wanted to keep the same nostalgic environment that is present with all of the Vietnamese restaurants I went to growing up. With the menu, it is shaped into a familiar flowery shape of bánh bò hấp and banana leaves. The familiar shapes helps with bringing back the playfulness and a bit of nostalgia.
Within Vietnamese cuisine, banana leaf is an essential material that they use whether that be for the actual cooking process or packaging the food. I thought it would be fun include the shape of it within the menu and another prominent shape that I am sure that people who are familiar with bánh bò hấp will know. But don’t worry once you’ve tried this yummy coconut milk-based dessert, you’ll understand!
Throughout the website, I wanted to keep the fun aspect of the brand. It has a vertical side bar, shapes that navigate you to other pages, and other pages like that. The side bar was made to reflect the vertical-oriented logo and it’s a small twist to the usual horizontal bar. Despite it being a loose concept, I still tried to keep up the minimalistic style by not incorporating expressive graphics and kept it fairly simple within the screens.
With some parts of the branding, I wanted the consumer to be reminded about the learning part and that’s why I included the pronunciations within a few products among the whole line. When you get seated down with the chopsticks, when you are given the menu or before you even come into the restaurant, you will be surrounded with constant reminders of how to pronounce the words. But, it is not to the point where it is excessively in your face as we would like to ease people into the language and that’s why it is not everywhere.
Designing the environmental and advertising components of this project, the main focus was to produce a way to remind customers what the objective of this restaurant was. Encouraging customers to learn how to say words the right way is what I wanted to constantly announce throughout, almost like a campaign. Through the tagline, it is used to emphasize to everyone about our primary objective: Learn How to Say it Right. But another thing that I wanted to keep in mind when creating them is keeping the text short, so there is space for bánh to be emphasized at a big scale. Since it is a fairly simple logo, I wanted to give it a chance to be the main point for advertisement and environmental.
With the collateral pieces, I wanted to bring back the playfulness within the branding. Like through the business cards doubling up as stickers and creating a smiley face motif, it allows for a sense of casualness and fun into the brand. And I thought it would be fun to create a fish sauce bottle, which is an essential in almost every Vietnamese household and something that holds a lot of nostalgia for most Asian Americans in general.
From this project, I think something that I have learned is how important your logo and color palette as those are the main things that define you and what people will recognize. It is something so obvious but actually working on a brand from start to finish has made me realize it even more. If it were to become an actual restaurant, I think I would take back the sort of elegancy that it seems to have and have more of the nostalgia be the focal point. However, it would still have the same objective as it does now. All are welcomed at bánh, a place where making mistakes are okay and we encourage learning how to say it the right way. As long as you are trying and enjoying our food, that is all that matters to us!
Designer: Amy Vo
Instructor: Mia Culbertson
Class: Advanced Graphic Design GAD 3001
School: Tyler School of Art and Architecture
