Abundance
Project Overview
Abundance is a locally owned American fare restaurant in Ephraim, UT that was facing a change in ownership. The incoming owner wanted to modernize the brand and improve the customer experience; all on a tight budget and a one month timeline. Our deliverables: a new logo, website, menu, and any supporting materials needed to bring the rebrand to life.
Role: Lead Designer
Team: Myself and 3 other designers
Timeline: 1 month
The Challenge
Abundance was working with extremely outdated materials, their website hadn’t been updated in many years and the only way customers could interact with the restaurant effectively was through facebook. They didn’t have a way to receive or process online orders and the original owners of Abundance never established a cohesive brand, so the storefront looked confusing and uninviting. These experience gaps were killing the business, and the new owner needed it turned around fast.
Understanding the Users
Locals:
Population of 6,200 with a strong multigenerational, tight-knit community
Abundance is located on Main Street, which is the heart of the community.
Pioneer Park, immediately next door, regularly hosts local events including The Scandinavian Heritage Festival each Spring (the town's biggest event and source of tourism)
Students:
Age: 18-24
Snow College enrolls ~5,500 students, majority attending the Ephraim campus
Students reside in Ephraim for Fall and Winter, but leave for Summers; creating strain on local shops to operate without their business for several months.
Design Goals
Create a gathering place that enhances the community and builds Ephraim pride
Elevate the atmosphere without dramatically altering the menu
Draw inspiration from farmers markets — home grown and approachable, but fresh and modern
Strike a balance between coffee shop casual and farm-to-table dining
Visual Identity
Balancing rustic and modern in a single brand identity required a lot of intention. Earth tones and a rustic logotype typeface established the home-grown, welcoming feel the client was after, while a clean modern secondary typeface and a simple, line-based logomark kept it feeling fresh. The logomark itself is a Sego Lily, the Utah state flower, chosen as a nod to the local pride that runs deep in Ephraim.
Storefront Experience
To effectively improve the in-person customer experience of Abundance, we knew we would have to address many different facets of the business. To curate the atmosphere effectively we looked at what customers would be interfacing with the most. We narrowed our focus down to signage, uniforms, menu, and food serviceware.
Website
One of the most essential parts of this project was redesigning the Abundance website. In order to reach younger customers, specifically the Snow College students, we knew we needed to add online ordering to the Abundance website. We also added a “Community” page to the website to serve as a virtual bulletin board to broadcast events happening in Ephraim/at Abundance. Additionally, we also implemented a newsletter for Abundance to further communicate community events and promote seasonal menu items.
Conclusion
This experience made me value being able to design with motivated team members because we were able to problem solve as a group to achieve the best results. I felt grateful for the opportunity to lead the team through these creative processes and I felt as we worked together, we shared a vision for what Abundance could be. I am incredibly proud of the work we produced as a team and I feel lucky to have worked with individuals who were passionate about the project. In my future work, I hope to continue to design with a team around me as I feel it results in stronger designs.