Post #738842 by kkocka on Fri, Mar 6, 2015 11:13 AM

On 2015-03-02 18:14, davestolte wrote:
But suppose Damon's was to do a bit of a graphic design refresh - logo, menus, website, etc.

I was a little hopeful that their cocktail menu would get a refesh too. I had a drink, but it certainly wasn't a mai tai whatever it was - tasted like diluted Barton's rum with a hint of pineapple juice. The bar was littered with Bacardi Silver and Gold bottles (I think they were a few short of an official Bacardi Rum sponsor banner hanging over the bar) although behind the register I believe I saw single bottles of Zaya, Appleton, and Kraken maybe. That disappointment aside, the food there is great and although the decor is definitely well-aged and loved, it's not too bad (though not a fan of their murals and of course some furniture swapping would be useful) and was better than I thought it would be.

Anyway, moving on, here are some thoughts, starting with the website:
-HAS to be larger than 786 px wide. It's 2015 and time for a responsive website. I want to check it out on my phone without pinch/zoom and/or consulting Yelp or Google instead.
-Obviously needs hiearchy and a better homepage/landing where there's more than a giant image map.
-If possible, get larger photos either by taking new ones or getting ahold of the originals and bring in at a larger size. The beautiful dining room would be nice shot to land on. Potential for food photography for site (and/or menus?).
-News/Reviews and TV Spot sections are rather...sad. :( They could totally go.

Logo/Branding:
-I'm not sure how sacred the monkeys are, but I'm not terribly fond of them. That's just me. I get the whole see/hear/speak no evil thing but that doesn't speak steakhouse to me, nor tiki/polynesian. Plus, what's the last one doing, grabbing his balls? I think a nice typeface could serve as a logo just fine - certainly replacing the comic sans-esque type. Or, if they are to stay, an illustration refresh could do wonders. Maybe just monkey heads. Who knows?
-Brown and orange feels kinda old. That's a hard color combination to pull off as modern or relevant - Latitude 29 pulls it off well because they pull in the hot pink and use brown instead of black for body type (that's also the Zune color scheme, for what it's worth, and I like it). I understand the restaurant's been around since 1937 but it shouldn't feel that way. Strokes around logos and type...yeesh. A refreshed color scheme or better execution of the current one could also do wonders.

Menus:
-Mostly refine the type. On the food menu you have an inline and solid display font similar to this. On the cocktail menu/whatever is at the bar, you have some House Industries fonts. The feeling you get between the two are completely different. Again, monkeys everywhere!

Overall:
-I guess the thought is do we lean tiki, or steakhouse, or can there be a marriage of both?
-Web presence needs to exist. The site feels as old as the restaurant.
-Type can do a lot of the refreshing.

I realize a lot of what I said is either obvious or redundant. Hopefully I didn't come across as douchey.