YOKO&YOSHI, Traditional Japanese Onsen

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Yoko&Yoshi, the Traditional Japanese Onsen opened its door in the middle of Hyogo, Japan. Want to discover where it is ? Keep reading.

Japan's map with Hyogo

The region of Hyogo is amazing : The capitale of Hyogo Prefecture is Kobe, where you can find one of the three biggest Buddha's statues (in Japan) at the famous Nofukuji Temple. But the region is also known for the Himeji Castle, the Kobe beef, and a large numbers of Onsen resorts and towns.

landscapes in Hyogo, Japan.

As you might know, in the Japanese culture, Onsen are taken an important part. Onsen are these natural hot springs. They are natural outside pools, where the water is composed by beneficial minerals. Nowadays, some are also composed of inside bathrooms. The brief : The bathing establishment has been around for many years and has a large, loyal clientele. With the conversion, the traditional character of the bathroom was retained, but the materials were renewed and modernity found its way through simple shapes in combination with exotic colors. It's modern and sophisticated. It keeps traditional way while mixing with more elegance and singularity. The branding is intended to appeal to the long-standing mature clientele as well as new customers and tourists.

Moodboard

After reading the client brief, I did a lot of research on the Japanese Culture. Except the pink flowers' famous tree and the animes we were watching when we were young, I didn't know much about Japan. I've already tried this mochi cake (which are really funny by the way) and I remembered being in love with their colors ! Some pastels next to brighter ones, they always looked beautiful all together. That's the idea I went from for this moodboard. I wanted some soft colors combined with some out of the ordinary for this kind of company.

Yoko&Yoshi's Moodboard

I'm literally in love with this moodboard !!

I love the combinaison of the turquoise green-blue with the soft purple which matches with the mochi color perfectly! The darker blue for the traditional reference and to soften the whole association. Adding this bold pink gives an elegant but uncommon identity to the Onsen!

Yoko&Yoshi Color Palette

Logo

Finally ! The logo of Yoko&Yoshi ! To create a modern though modern and elegant logo, I used a bold font with irregular widths : Britannic Bold. I personalized the letters "y" to make it a bit more playful and recognizable.

Primary Logo

The secondary logo is useful here because the horizontal Yoko&Yoshi is quiet long. I wanted a smaller logo that can be used on smaller visuals.

Secondary Logo Yoko&Yoshi

Because the two names Yoko&Yoshi are both starting with the letters "YO", I decided to create a third version of the logo, where I would remove the stamp and combine the two names to make it easy to read and understandable quickly. I came up with this logo, to which I added a bold black square around the name to make it easy to identify.

Third version of the logo for Yoko&Yoshi

Logo mark

The logo mark is colorful and playful. What I wanted to achieve for this logo mark was a simple illustration with association of Japan cultural symbol or representations. That is why I drew the mountains in the background as a reminder of the view customers can have from the Onsen : really relaxing and in the middle of the nature. The water at the first stage is probably the ocean in this illustration but refers to the hot springs. The chosen pattern is inspired from Japanese Designs. In the sky, the big pink cercle is representing the sun and the clouds the serenity of the present moment.

Icon's explanations

Applications

To illustrate the ONSEN, I choose two pictures.

Photo on the natural source near Yoko&Yoshi Onsen

View on one of the pools and on beautiful pink tree.

Stationery

In the stationery, we can find the single paper, two types of envelops, a flyer, some duct tape, a booklet, and the business cards (designed in the next picture).

Stationery

Business Cards

I wanted to create pure and clear business cards. Both sides have a white background, the front only shows the logo, although the back gives the address and the phone number as informations, and as a drawing : the bubbly hot water at the bottom.