ON Y VA, meaning “Let’s go” in French, is a worker owned crepe restaurant that strives to create, foster, and redefine what community can mean in a restaurant. Based on the work, aesthetics, and philosophy of Grapus, a French graphic design collective, we offer a variety of savory crepes, sides, and drinks inspired by their legacy.
Inspiration
By and large, Grapus is one of my biggest artistic and philosophical inspirations. They were a French leftist graphic design collective active from the mid 1970s to the 1990s, with a body of work and philosophy built around community and political action. Their style was also wholly unique, with an explicit Anti Swiss design approach (source). Much of their work, examples of which are linked here, here, and here, features bold colors, hand drawn elements, and a variety of mediums. When I first saw their work, I was shocked. I had never considered there had been designs like theirs from before I was born. More than anything, this brand is an exploration of and tribute to their work.
Logo, Patterns, and Colors
As a nod to the collective, the restaurant’s name and logo come from one of my favorite Grapus posters, made for a communist youth festival. In French, ON Y VA means “let’s go” or “here we go,” and I thought this directness suited my brand’s bold style while simultaneously referencing one of my favorite Grapus posters. In my original designs, I wanted to include a finger pointing up to symbolize the directness of their work, but this got simplified to an arrow, which helped build my patterns and other brand elements. I chose the bold primary colors for their eye catching quality, and wrote the brand’s main sections for a more personal touch. The patterns consist mainly of different arrangements of arrows, but one of the patterns is a series of words related to the movement.
Menu
The items for the menu also took inspiration from the movement’s founders and history, as well as popular French menu items. Some of these, like Beef and Viande, or beef and meat, playfully use French words to create an intriguing and fun spread of items. I used the patterns to hone in on the brand’s bold approach, and wrote the menu sections to tie back into the core base.
Packaging
For packaging I went with a soda cup, a fry/side box, and a slice shaped container for transporting the crepes. My original idea for this brand was a pizza restaurant. It was only after I made the slice box that I decided to pivot towards a crepe direction, which ultimately made a stronger brand in my opinion, but I think it’s interesting how the slice box is the last standing remnant of version 1.0.
Collateral
I decided to go with shirts, hats, and pins for my collateral deliverables. A lot of my work with this brand involved playing with patterns and experimenting with bold colors. I was also interested in how the patterns and images could be warped and distorted by the surface of these items and how I could use that aspect to make the objects dynamic to look at.
Advertising
Since the collective did a lot of posters for various local causes, I thought doing a poster series would be the most fitting approach for this brand. The phrases on the posters are direct, almost as if they treated the viewer like a friend, to both further the brand’s community focused mission and tie back to the directness of Grapus’ work, and the French translations beneath tie back to the collective’s French background and heritage.
Environmental
When it came to designing the interior and exterior of the restaurant, I envisioned some kind of storefront structure that you might see in Paris and sought to make it pop, almost as if the brand is exploding from inside. I repeated the patterns on the interior and made the color of the outside walls red to fit with the brand’s aesthetic. However, I regret how the interior design turned out. I could not find a mockup that fit my vision, so I took an existing image and tried to tweak elements in Photoshop so they would fit in. The floor was the most difficult part by far, and I’m not satisfied with how it looks, but it gets the point across.
Website
Compared to the rest of the brand’s deliverables, the website is much more minimal. There aren’t any patterns, there is a lot of negative space, and I’d argue it feels more professional, in a sense. This was the hardest thing for me to design. As a designer and artist, I have a marked tendency to make work that is maximalist and dynamic, so I found it difficult to rein myself in and make something more open especially since the brand’s other elements had been relatively maximalist.
Conclusion
Making this project was certainly a rollercoaster. This really tested my patience and my skillset, but in the end I learned quite a few things about design and branding. This project also showed me my limits and how far I must come to break them. For all the blood, sweat, and tears I shed working on this, I’m satisfied with the result, and I think that’s all I can ask for.
Credits and Further Information
Designer: Roz Flick
Instructor: Katey Stafford, Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Temple University
Mockups and Stock Photography from Adobe Stock
Grapus information (and a good primer on the group) courtesy of this article by Tiphaine Guillermou in Grapheine.
Examples of Grapus’ work from MOMA and the Aubervilliers Grapus Archive (in French)
