Agora
Job:12-84823 Title:RP-Graphic Design That Works (LDW)
175# Dtp:120/163 Page:26
Text (DS)
Client
Agora is a restaurant located
in the Art Gallery of Ontario.
ART DIRECTOR
Sarah Dinnick
DESIGNER
Samantha Dion
FIRM
Dinnick & Howells
Process
For art director Sarah Dinnick, the biggest challenge of the project was convincing
her clients that a sunflower logo would not work. “They had their hearts set on a
sunflower, but I’d seen sunflowers used a zillion times before,” she says. “In addi-
tion, sunflowers have a seasonal aspect to them. They suggest summer, and the
restaurant is open all year round.” While Dinnick did create a sunflower logo for her
clients, she also developed an alternative approach, which, in the end, the clients
happily adopted. Dinnick began by photographing a white plate. (Bought at Ikea, the
plate’s mass-produced perfection made it “a modern icon and a powerful graphic
form,” says Dinnick.) Using Photoshop and Illustrator, she next experimented with
different typefaces for the logotype, ultimately choosing Trebuchet, a sans serif font
that feels modern due to its clean, simple letterforms, but also friendly and warm,
owing to the jaunty little upsweeps that end many of the strokes. The colors—warm
oranges, reds, and mustards—match the colors of the gallery walls that lead to the
restaurant, as well as hint at the colors of the clients’ beloved sunflower.
What Works
The logo, a pristine, white plate with the restaurant’s name spelled out across it in
Trebuchet, is based on the idea of an artist’s palette: Just as a palette holds paint, so
a plate displays food. The analogy heightens the value of Agora’s cuisine as well as
links the restaurant to its location in a modern art museum.
The clean and simple
feel of Agora’s logo is
echoed in the design of
the restaurant’s menu.
Graphic Design That Works
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