The Wall Mural Begins...

Having drawn some rough sketches of my overall wall mural and made a list of Barcelona's famous landmarks, I have started to illustrate individual images.  Once I have drawn all of my images for my mural I will then look at maybe altering them using Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, possibly adding colour, shapes or typography. To start with here is my drawing of the rooftops of Casa Mila.  Casa Mila, better known as La Pedrera (Catalan for 'The Quarry') is a building designed by the Catalonian architect Antoni Gaudi.  The roof is on several levels and has six staircase entrances, all encased in sculptural "houses". Some staircase entrances have mosaic applied to the surfaces but the colour range is limited.

I am currently in the process of drawing Sagrada Familia, and as I was drawing this I was thinking about how to piece all of the images together to make a flowing mural.  I have decided to draw all the main images on individual A4 sheets and then scan them into photoshop, add some colours e.g. Yo! Sushi's colours - their plates and the colour of the logo.  Then I will scale the images down in Indesign, print off the images separately and the piece them all together on an A3 sheet by cutting them out, adding different types of paper/drawing over the top of them - almost like a collage.  After I have done this I will scan the whole A3 sheet onto my Mac and possibly alter the whole image further. Here is the above image that I have added a small amount of orange to.

Below is my illustration of Sagrada Familia, which I found quite tough but persevered with it.  I am drawing all of my work from photographs I have found on the internet, I wont be tracing over any of the photographs.  I have also added small amounts of green which is the exact same colour of the cheapest plate of food you can get from Yo! Sushi.  I have done this using the eye-dropper tool in photoshop. Sagrada Familia is considered the master work of Antoni Gaudi - It is one of Barcelona's top tourist attractions.  It has been under construction since 1882 and is not expected to be complete until at least 2026.

Below is my illustration of Victor Valdes - A Spanish football goalkeeper, who plays for FC Barcelona. He is the most successful goalkeeper in Barcelona's history, having won four La Liga titles, two Champions League titles, and one Copa del Rey title.

Below is my illustration of the lizard at Parc Guell.  Gaudi's multicoloured mosiac dragon fountain is at the main entrance of Parc Guell.  Parc Guell is a garden with architectural elements situated on the hill of El Carmel in the Gracia district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.  It was designed by Antoni Gaudi and built in the years 1900 to 1914.

Casa Batllo was restored by Antoni Gaudi and Josep Maria Jujol, built in 1877 and remodelled between 1904-1906.  The local name for the building is Casa dels ossos (House of bones) This is because of the curved stone columns resembling bones, the wrought iron balcony railings are painted a cream colour and the little balconies have been compared to masks.  Here is my illustration of Casa Batllo's Balconies.

Brand Manager Report

The Yo! Sushi brand is the most famous sushi brand in the UK.  It is one of the most talked about dining experiences of the 21st century.  As well as the experience being fun and exciting, the sushi is high quality - freshly prepared in their restaurants for dining in, for takeaway or delivery.  They serve over 3.5 million customers a year throughout the UK and across the globe in Moscow, Dublin, Dubai, and Kuwait.

The city I have chosen for my design task is Barcelona.  I have chosen this city for a few reasons - I have always been interested in Art Nouveau and when I was 18 years old I decided to write an essay for my A Levels about Antoni Gaudi, so I visited Barcelona to study his work.  Gaudi's work is so unconventional, I feel it is a must that they appear and that they are the main focal points in the wall mural design.  I originally wanted to choose New York, but as much as I love this City I feel it has more "top of the mind" branding and I think for this reason Barcelona will be more of a challenge for me.

Barcelona is the 15th most liveable city in the world, and is the 12th most visited City in the world according to lifestyle magazine Monocle. It is the 4th most visited in Europe after London, Paris and Rome.  It receives over 5 million tourists every year, and the city is Europe's 3rd and one of the worlds most successful as a city brand, both in terms of reputation and assets.  This ever-growing, high turn over city would be ideal for a Yo! Sushi outlet.  This is a modern city, where young people visit for short stays - and as Yo! Sushi is quirky and original with a fast paced (conveyor belt) feel, much like Barcelona, I feel this would be the perfect city.  Barcelona already has such a large variety of foods from all around the world.  As well as typical Catalan foods and tapas, you can get Indian, Thai, Sushi, American and Italian.  As Barcelona already has nearly every type of food you could imagine from traditional outlets to new-wave/ultra modern, and prices low to high, I feel a Yo! Sushi outlet would fit into Barcelona perfectly.

The style of design I would like to achieve in the outlet/restaurant is an ink and brightly coloured type theme.  I have looked into various Illustrators such as Silke Werzinger.  Silke finds inspiration in everyday life, magazines, and notebooks she picks up at flea markets.  Her simple style, which combines ink and colour, has an almost adolescent brazenness which I really like, and will fit in with the target market for this project.  Her Illustrations sometimes tell amusing stories in scenes taken from everyday life, conversations between friends, and music much like Barcelona.
My idea is to start off a design for the wall mural and for it to have an ever-growing style just like Barcelona does. For example; Paper cloths on the restaurants tables with biros for people to add onto the original design. A blank wall in the outlet for people to draw on, or to be able to enter competitions with your design on - which might be an on going design through to other outlets all over the world or just in that one city. I think this would help well with the following:

•               Target Market

•               Brand Awareness

•               Selling points (unique and common)

•               Sales Targets

•               Competition/rival brands

•               Product launching

•               Advertising/packaging/promotional literature

•               Internet/digital media

Helpful Artwork

As I mentioned in my research, Antoni Gaudi's work and architecture play a big part in Barcelona's famous landmarks.  Here are a few pieces of my artwork that have been influenced by Gaudi's work and that may help me when i am designing my wall mural.

Me - 18 years old at Parc Guell - Barcelona

Below is a piece of artwork I created using just blue biro,  I am hoping to achieve a similar style to this for my wall mural.

Illustrators & Styles

I have looked into various Digital Artists and Illustrators that I feel have an eye-catching style.  These may help me to design or come up with a theme for my mural.  A few that I have researched are:

• Rubens 1p

• Douglas Alves

• Koa

• Onesidezero

• Ulla Puggaard

• Frank Stockton

• Silke Werzinger

• Steve Wilson

Having looked into other Illustrators works, I have decided to choose a similar style to Silke Werzinger.
Silke finds inspiration in everyday life, magazines, and notebooks she picks up at flea markets.  Her simple style, which combines ink and colour, has almost adolescent brazenness which i really like, and will fit in with the target market for this project.  Her Illustrations sometimes tell amusing stories in scenes taken from everyday life, conversations between friends, and music.

Below are a few examples of her work that caught my eye:

  

My idea is to start off a design for the wall mural and for it to have an ever-growing style just like Barcelona does. For example; Paper cloths on the restaurants tables with biros for people to add onto the original design. A blank wall in the outlet for people to draw on, or to be able to enter competitions with your design on - which might be an on going design through to other outlets all over the world or just in that one city.  Other ideas may include scrapbook style menus, direct mail packs - free biro pens, different types of paper (collage style) takeaway box/bags.

Choosing a City

Each City has it's own "top of the mind" branding, which I need to consider when choosing a City.  A few Cities that stand out to me the most are:

• New York
• London
• Paris
• Barcelona
• Rome
• Prague
• Tokyo
• Venice
• Amsterdam
• Las Vegas

As much as I love New York City, I feel like this will be a popular City to design a mural for, as it probably has the largest landmarks in the world.  For this reason I have decided to choose Barcelona, as I feel it will be more of a challenge for me.  As well as New York, I have also been to Barcelona, which I find a fascinating City with totally unexpected landmarks and architecture.
I have always been interested in Art Nouveau and when I was 18 years old I decided to write an essay for my A Levels about Antoni Gaudi, so I visited Barcelona to study his work. Gaudi's work is so unconventional, I feel it is a must that they appear and that they are the main focal points in the wall mural.  As well as Gaudi's works I will also need to look into other popular landmarks and associations within Barcelona.  Below are a few examples:

Sagrada Familia

Barcelona Football Ground

Casa Mila 

Las Ramblas

Casa Batllo

The Magic Fountains of Monjuic

Parc Guell

Possible ideas and landmarks I could include on my wall mural:

• Barcelona Flag
• Las Ramblas
• Parc Guell
• National Museum Of Art Of Catalunya
• Picasso Museum
• Miro Museum
• Casa Mila
• Casa Batllo
• Sagrada Familia
• Tibidabo
• La Pedrera
• Port Olympic
• Boats - Las Golondrinas
• Barcelona Football Stadium - FC Museum
• The Magic Fountains Of Monjuic
• El Born District
• Barcelona Beach
• Shopping
• Aquarium/Zoo
• Pable Espanyol - Spanish Village
• Alex Trochut - Barcelona Designer
• Football Players - Messi, David Villa, Iniesta, Victor Valdes, Carlos Puyol
• Music/Songs/Festivals - Lyrics (Typography)
• Seafood/Tapas/Sweets
• Flamenco Dancing
• Gaudi's Doors
• The different quarters of Barcelona:

Ciutat Vella - Barcelona's old town including the medieval Barri Gothic, Las Ramblas, Ravel & El Borne (La Ribera)

Eixample (Gothic Quarter) - Modernist quarter, noted for it's Art Nouveau buildings.

Gracia - Formerly an independent town, it joined the city in the xxth century.  Narrow streets and a cosmopolitan and young atmosphere with not too many tourists.

Barceloneta - Known for its sandy beaches and many restaurants and cafes along the boardwalk.

Barcelona's busiest time of year is August to early September - This could be important to remember when promoting the Yo! Sushi brand.

Below is some existing Artwork/Graffiti that is related to Barcelona and that is currently in Barcelona.

Brief background & requirements

Yo! Sushi's first outlet opened thirteen years ago in London's Soho district, and has been one of the U.K.'s fastest growing food businesses ever since.  There are now over 50 restaurants throughout the Country, from Aberdeen to Portmouth - London has 23 - Manchester 4 - Sheffield has 1 in Meadowhall.

Yo! Sushi already has International outlets in Ireland, Russia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait, but wishes to open restaurants/outlets in all major cities throughout the world.  Each of these outlets should contain a distinctive wall mural to reflect each individual city and outlet.  These will be shown with a mix of local and historical origins that reflect the contemporary client, the customers, and the City "brand".  These murals can be a mixture of styles, colours, imagery, typography etc.

Once I have thought of a design for my mural, I will also use my design on other company products such as branded menus, takeaway box/bag, stationery such as business cards and letterheads, vehicle livery and direct mail packs which will help to promote the opening of the latest Yo! sushi restaurant.

If you don't know how to Yo! :

It's easy to spend money at Yo! Sushi as me and my friend found out the first time we went: