Hard Knox Identity Guidlines

Bringing Our

Brand To Life

Hard Knox has been around since 1999 and has two locations. One in SOMA on 3rd street and one on Clement and 26th in the Richmond. The inside is covered in corrugated steel walls. The tables and chairs are red. The general feel is southern kitsch. There are rusted tools and fishing equipment on the walls.

Audience Profile Customer base is mixed. Primarily young white and Asian groups with some families and couples. The majority of customers were wearing hoodies, jeans, and sneakers. They seemed at ease and were smiling, joking with the occasional high five. The younger crowd were looking at smart phones until their food came. The customers were usually in groups of two with a few larger groups. The place starts getting filled up around seven p.m., especially on the weekend.

friendscomfortchicken n wafflesselectionhang over remedykitchbreakfastbeersdeliveryservice

Understanding us

The design should convey that Hard Knox is an unpretentious, yet clean, establishment were you can sit down with friends & loved ones and enjoy delicious Soul food. The use of corrugated steel as a veneer fits their aesthetic but there are too many objects decorating the walls. The ceiling lights should be dimmed and the accent lights should be turned up.

Communication StrategyThe menu needs a cleaner layout. Currently it has colored text laid on top of images. It is hard to read and looks tacky. The layout should be simplified and given a more authentic feel. The fonts should be friendly but not cheap or goofy.

Competitive Positioning There are only two Soul Food establishments in San Francisco that deliver. The other being Gussie’s Chicken and Waffles. According to Gussie’s track record on yelp the average review that mentions delivery gives them a 2 out of 5 stars. The majority of the reviews directly reference missing items, poor quality food, and lateness of delivery.

They are one of the few restaurants in the area that have a good beer selection. That includes some of the local bars.

More importantly, for some, they are one of the only restaurants in the area that serve breakfast.

Perception/Tone/Guidelines

Table of contents01 master logo

03 master alternatives

05 alternate logo

07 logo sizes

08 exclusion zone

09 colors

11 typography

15 products

23 buisness card

24 letter head

Brand Elements: Master Logo

1

The Hard Knox logo has been designed to reflect traditional Soul Food light up signs with a modern twist.

Being owned by Non African Americans in San Francisco, the logo is meant to display an affection for Soul Food and its roots without trying to co-opt it’s heritage.

The band of dots are a reductive rendering of bulbs that line old school light up signs.

2

The dots are offset to give the logo a sense of depth. The space in between the color background and lights must stay blank. Do not fill it in. The same goes for the text. If you need to place the logo over color use the knockout logo which is covered on the next page.

When reproducing the logo, only use the artwork supplied. Do not alter the logo in any way. This is critical to create a recognizable identity.

Brand Elements: Master Logo Alternates

3 4

Black and White logoThis logo is only to be used when color is not available. Avoid over use as the color scheme is integral to the brand.

KnockoutsThe knockout logo is only to be used over dark images or colors. Be careful to make sure the image is dark and simple enough to not obscure the logo. If using over a color, make sure the color is dark enough to use the knockout.Note: The rectangles of color are just examples of what the logo would look like on a colored or black page. Do not use the rectangles as part of the logo.

5 6

Brand Elements: Alternate Logo

Here is the alternate Hard Knox logo. This logo is to be used only when there isn’t enough room for the master logo or when the master logo would seem too loud.

The color logo should always be used unless color is unavailable.

The colors keep a sense of conformity with the master logo, do not change them.

Here are a few examples of the alternative logo knocked out of a color page.

Never use a color rectangle with the logo in white.

Design Elements: Logo sizes

7 8

Design Elements: Exclusion zone

The master logo is never to be used smaller than 2 inches. Below this size the tag line becomes indistinguishable.

The exclusion zone for the master logo is set by the capital H height. This gives the logo space to breathe and a sense of importance.

The alternate logo’s exclusion zone is set by the lower case x in Hard Knox. The smaller logo is simpler therefore needs less space.

The alternate logo is not to be used smaller than 1 inches. Smaller than this size the word cafe is indistinguishable.

2 in

1 in

Design Elements: Colors

9 10

HSV 203.91.65 RGB 15.108.166CMYK 91.35.0.35LAB 44.-3.-38HEX 0F6CA6

HSV 0.100.80RGB 204.0.0CMYK 0.100.100.20LAB 43.68.57HEX 43.68.57

HSV 59.86.65RGB 166.164.23CMYK 0.1.86.35LAB 66.-14.65HEX A6A417

HSV 0.0.9RGB 23.23.23CMYK 0.0.0.91LAB 8.0.0HEX 171717

Primary colors are a dark teal and mustard green. Do not approximate these colors by eye. They have been mathmaticly paired and approximations will throw off the balance.

The colors are meant to be a nod to mustard greens, a staple of soul food and a shade of blue that is typically used for type in soul food signs.

The secondary colors are meant to be used as accents. The chairs and tables inside Hard Knox are red and if used properly red can help tie the brand together. Black is a safe color for type, accents, and the logo when color is not an option.

Primary colors

Secondary colors

Design Elements: Typography

11 12

Hard Knox’s typography consists of one typeface: Soul Handwriting Regular. Soul Handwriting is a bold font used for headlines. It is not to be used for body text. For body text, see the next page. In addition to headlines Soul Handwriting can be used for taglines and single sentences. The handwritten aesthetic goes along with the vintage look Hard Knox is trying to incorporate.

Soul Handwriting RegularABCDEFGHIJKLM NOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789

San Francisco Soul Food

Eats Drinks

Chicken n Waffles 11 Coffee 2.00

Fried Chicken Pot Pie 13 Hot Tea 1.50

Crawfish Etouffee 13 Fresh Lemonade 2.50

Jambalaya Pasta or Rice 12 Arnold Palmer 2.50

Oxtails 16 Iced Tea 2.00

Blackened Catfish 14 Sweet Tea 2.50

Veggie Plate 8 Mimosa 6.00

' '

'

Design Elements: Typography

13 14

Verdana RegularABCDEFGHIJKLM NOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789

All internal communications should use Verdana regular. You may use Verdana Bold for headers and to signify importance. Using Verdana will guarantee everyone can see communications clearly. Do not use a different font as others may not have it on their computer and can make text hard to read.

Verdana BoldABCDEFGHIJKLM NOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789

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Brand Elements: Products

15 16

What follows are some examples of how the Hard Knox Brand can be applied to products.

Hard Knox will need coffee mugs. To keep with the comfort food angle the mugs will use one of the black and white logos placed in a typical fashion. The logo should always be centered and placed horizontally.

Brand Elements: Products

17 18

Being in San Francisco Hard Knox would be foolhardy to not sell messenger bags. People who use messenger bags are usually more open to alternative designs so it is alright to be somewhat unorthodox with the logo. Tilting and obscuring part of the logo is acceptable here.

20

Brand Elements: Products

19

Playing on the idea that people who eat a lot of soul food are heavy we’ve placed the Hard Knox logo near the bottom of the T-shirt causing the logo to stretch over larger stomachs.

You will notice the logo on the T-shirt is different than the previously presented logo. This is because the ink from silk screening will crack over time. When screened in large blocks the cracks happen more rapidly and are more noticeable.

Brand Elements: Products

21

Here is an example of how the brand can be used in a modern and vintage sense. On one hand you have the smaller, black alternate logo applied to a distressed set of cards which have a vintage feel. On the other you have a large alternate of the master logo knocked out over the primary blue color.

This can be done on smaller non-essential items. Do not do this with menus, signage, mugs, or anything that is traditionally seen or used in a restaurant.

22

Date

Addressee NameCompany NameAddressCity, State, Zip

Salutation,

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Closing,

Name

Title

Signature

123 Fake StreetP.O. Box 555San Francisco, CA 94121415-555-0123415-555-0124 Fax

1.25” 1”

1.81

25”

1”

24

Brand Elements: Business card

23

Richmond2448 Clement StreetSan Francisco, CA 94121PH 415-752-3770Mon-Th, Sun 11a.m. - 9 p.m.Fri-Sat 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.

Fake GuyIn charge of stuff

fakeguy@hardknox.com415-555-1234

The Hard Knox Buisness card is a great example of the duality of the brand. On one side you have the faded paper with script writing but on the other you have a more modern single color logo.

Trevor Myers

DAI 325

05.09.13