Jia Ting

Project Summary

Since the global pandemic, the restaurant industry has taken a toll but especially Chinese restaurants. With the tough climate of globalization, social media, restaurant rating apps, and COVID Chinese restaurants have to adapt quicker than they intended to. This is why it is critical to create an authentic brand that stands out in the midst of all the noise. Jia Ting has preserved its cultural history but modernized it to keep up with the rapidly changing restaurant industry.

Why this project?

Growing up I have always been surrounded by food, not just eating it but serving it, preparing it, and learning about the history as it relates to my culture. Vivid memories of working as a cashier, waitress, cook, and washer in my parent’s restaurants flood in my mind when I think of my childhood. So for my final senior project, I aimed to design a memorable brand filled with cultural history and authenticity.

Skills

Branding, User Research, Wireframing, Graphic Design, Website Design

Timeline

15 weeks

My Role

Graphic Designer, UX/ UI Designer

Tools

Adobe XD, Illustrator, Photoshop

Prototype

Defining the Brand's Mission + Values

The mom and pop shop serves a fusion of Chinese dishes from regions like Schezuan, Guangzhou and even Hong Kong. The history of the owners is one filled with passion, determination, and triumphs through adversity. Their distinctive Chinese flavors, service, and history is what makes their business stand out.

User Research

Target Users

Our target audience is people who are 20-50 year old living in New York City. I created these user personas to guide our design process.

Sketching out ideas

Logo Ideation

Using the Chinese translation of Jia Ting which means family, I broke down the elements of the characters and tried to create shapes as well as try to create legible letter marks with them.

I narrowed it down to the character that I made into a shape of a pot. Traditional Asian clay cooking pots have similarities to the logo and when you think of a pot you think of potlucks, traditional cooking, and home-cooked food that brings everyone together which is what I wanted to convey.

Menu Design

Business Card Design

Merch Design

Dumpling Making Kit

The dumpling making kit was designed to provide a way to teach more people about the art and history of dumplings. It also presented a fun and educational activity for people to connect through food during the time of Covid.