RESTAURANT PROJECT: SMALL CLAIMS

Art Direction: Paul Sheriff

Logo Animation

For this project, I was given the opportunity to create a site-specific pop-up restaurant. The area I was assigned was City Hall in Philadelphia. I was able to take a guided tour of the building and the surrounding area. One of the things that I took note of during the tour, was when we reached the courtroom sector of the City Hall; noticing the people who were sitting outside awaiting their time before the judge. The main concept behind the pop-up was to be able to get food to customers fast so they can get back to where they are needed in a timely manner. An thus, Small Claims, was born. 

User Personas

Logo Progression

The concept behind the logo was to play off of the name, which palys off of ‘small claims court’. The main cuisine at the pop-up is sliders, little, mini, itty-bitty burgers. The reason being that they are small so they cook fast, so you get your food right when you need it. I couldn’t just show a burger. There would be no scale reference to let customers know that we are selling sliders, so I came up with the finger concept. I originally planned on going with a more vector style, but it was decide that the logo would look much better hand drawn, so that is exactly what I did. I then scanned it and vectorized it to give the cleaner look to my linework that I was after. The type was inspired by Law & Order, of which I and my girlfriend are big fans. 

Our ‘Felony Fries’ container was designed as a reference to the old accordion folders that attourneys are known for using. The business card was made to harken back to old typewritten court documents and stenographers. It would be printed on thick yardstick and the logo would be stamped on the front in red ink. Below, is an example of a billboard. Something funny and easily read.

The menu was designed to mimic court documents that one might receive in the mail, like a summons or whatnot. As you can see, there aren’t very many items on this menu and that is no coincidnece. There are sliders for all different backgrounds and dietary needs. I didn’t want a massive menu because our customers don’t have the time to read a 20-page menu, they need something concise to help with their innate sense of indecision. We can also see a couple of our usual suspects sticky-noted at the bottom.

A mobile app was also developed and protoyped with customer needs in mind. If you’re on a short recess, you need to know what time you’ve gotta get back to the courtroom. An in-app lunch timer helps to do away with any worries of tardiness. As well as a menu, one of the main features is The Decider; a function that helps you make a decisiona and stick with it. All rulings are final!

App Walkthrough

Decider Walkthrough

Here is a brief promo video that explains the pop-up from concept to finish