"REVORM's aim was to destroy the preconceptions of vegetarian restaurants, and the logo as well as the modern decor went some way towards achieving this."
If you had to open a vegetarian restaurant anywhere on the globe, it's highly unlikely that Munich would be your first choice. Bavaria, after all, is traditionally known as an old-fashioned, beer-and-sausage region. However, over the past 20 years Prinz Myshkin has ploughed its own distinct furrow. And more recently it has been helped by a dramatic makeover, both in its interiors and graphics.
'It's the hippy stuff that people always think of when they talk about vegetarian restaurants,' says Claas Blüher of graphics firm REVORM. 'Our aim was to get rid of those thoughts. You can sell vegetarian food with a contemporary touch and modern appeal.' One of the most important elements of the redesign was the restaurant's logo. 'We tried to give the identity a new cosmopolitan feel,' Blüher explains. 'Before our design, the restaurant had a hand-drawn type of logo; it looked very old-fashioned. We just tried to give the identity a clean and very light touch.' He succeeded. Using Foundry Sans, it's impossible to detect a whiff of incense around the new marque.
REVORM's work is also notable for its witty use of imagery. When designing postcards for the restaurant, for example, Blüher elected to subvert the famous image of a St. Bernard with a barrel of brandy around its neck. 'You get postcards everywhere, so we wanted to come up with something new. Munich is close to the alps – lots of people go skiing and stuff – so the winter topic was good one for us to use. That image of the dog carrying the brandy is very common in Germany, so we thought we'd play with it.' The barrel was replaced by a bunch of carrots.
'All the people who saw the image smiled,' Blüher adds. 'And that's a good thing when you're talking about vegetarian food. People think of it as something rather boring and just a health issue.' Indeed, the image is so popular that it was used again for Prinz Myshkin's website, where each section is like a page of a restaurant reservations book. Click on to a new area and the book flicks through its pages until it reaches the right one.
Yet despite the redesign, it is noticeable that the restaurant hasn't completely dug up its roots. Love is all about has been printed on one of the sofas in the more lounge-y area, while on the opposite wall are picture of Nobel Peace Prize-winners.
By Grant Gibson for his book 'Restaurant Graphics', Laurence King Publishing, to be released May 2007.
www.laurenceking.co.uk
"With a clear-cut design, Revorm has successfully highlighted the company’s philosophy while at the same ideally emphasising the technology we sell. A clear outline and new structures also emerged within the company as a result of the new corporate identity. Customer response is positive throughout. "
Gabriele Niedermeier, authorized representative of RFT in Munich, Germany
When the penny actually drops and the medium-size business owners become convinced of the power of design, at that point things can really take off. As, for example, was the case for Revorm and RFT. (...) The latter is a manufacturer of ultrasound air humidifiers based in Munich – products, which at first sight don’t seem to have a lot of sex appeal.
The company, which employs a dozen persons and has been working with a clipart logo designed in Microsoft Word until now, was really only looking to Revorm to build them a website. The designers, however, managed to convince them that sensible branding is also a necessity. By now, RFT not only has a professional appearance with high-quality appeal, in which everything interacts, but also a new name. The original name was Rohrhuber Frischetechnik, a name, which for the company’s
planned expansion into non-German speaking countries, would have most likely proven itself to be quite a tongue twister. So, the naming and re-branding initiated by Revorm came at
exactly the right moment in time – now RFT can confidently
move forward into the European market.
This type of give and take, which supports the clients’ growth thanks to effective corporate communication, and creates new and interesting challenges for the creative team time and again,
is, of course, the ideal case. Revorm also managed to succeed in this manner with other clients and has in the meantime not only compiled a handsome portfolio, but also won various prizes – an iF design award, a red dot award and most recently an award from TDC. It comes as no surprise that the first larger customers are meanwhile knocking on the agency’s doors, which is currently establishing a second office in Munich.
It would, however, be a big mistake to see the smaller clients merely as a steppingstone to profitable jobs, because with their combined power, especially these smaller clients can get things rolling. But in order to turn the drab looking Cinderella
into a beautiful princess, it’s not enough to simply do some touch-up work by creating pretty logos. What’s needed is the ability to empathise, be convincing, show entrepreneurial understanding and comprehend business. When the right partners come together, creative minds and medium-sized businesses can become an unbeatable team. And if something like that were to happen often enough, not only would our economy recover, but we would also be able to find a better sense of style in everyday life.
Dr. Claudia Gerdes for Page magazine's cover story "Win-Win! When medium sized businesses and creatives team up for success", 06/2005
"idea—intelligence—innovation"
Newstoday
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