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By Peter Maxwell 27 : 04 : 2016 & Smith : Yo! Sushi : Manga

UK – Design studio & Smith has revamped Yo! Sushi’s visual identity and in-store graphics to give diners a taste of modern Tokyo.

& Smith created a range of manga-inspired, content-driven menus that include traditional Kanji script
The scheme has been rolled out to all UK restaurants and will land at US sites later this month

Yo! Sushi visual identity by & Smith, UK

The studio’s treatment is based on a modern interpretation of anime and manga culture. Menus, A-boards, staff uniforms, interior graphics and window wraps were all updated as part of the redesign.

Central to the concept are a range of content-driven menus that were designed to look like Japanese zines complete with manga-like illustrations. The inclusion of Kanji script across the restaurant and accompanying advertising campaign means that customers can learn the authentic names of their favourite dishes. The new design was rolled out to all UK sites in the past two weeks and will be launched in all US sites later this month.

‘We wanted to give everyone a taste of what’s going on in Tokyo right now,’ says & Smith director Dan Bernstein. ‘That’s where the zine and newspaper menu idea came from. It gave us the chance to show some nice snippets of art, fashion and music alongside their food. The idea is that the editorial content will change four or five times a year.’

The Big Idea

Restaurants such as Yo! Sushi and Shuang Shuang are creating identities that draw from contemporary Asian culture without resorting to the cliches that put off New Bricolage consumers.