Reshaping one of the TOP Identities of World Gastronomic excellence

Year2018

AreaHostelería y restauración

DisciplinesBrand Identity
Graphic Design
Typography
Web Design

Oihana Subijana is responsible for the communication of the Akelarre restaurant and the hotel of the same name that will open its doors this July. She is small in size, but big in concerns and criteria. She speaks quickly, is direct, cheerful, simple, and has a very clear idea of what she wants, from caste she comes … Not in vain is the daughter of the great Pedro Subijana, one of the most prestigious chefs in this country, three Michelin stars with his restaurant Akelarre and creator, along with Jose Maria Arzak, of the New Basque Cuisine.

She welcomes us in the kitchen classroom of Akelarre itself, the laboratory and test bench where Pedro Subijana and his staff devise those gastronomic wonders with which they make their customers happy. Facing us, some huge windows in front of the Bay of Biscay make us feel very lucky and very aware of the magnitude of what we are about to undertake. Oihana offers us coffee, and with a huge and frank smile and in a very direct way, she asks us to take care of checking her brand, adjusting and identifying her identity and establishing a usage policy. Then you know there is no margin for error. You have to immerse yourself in his world, soak up that excellence, his ability to innovate and be at the forefront, and his critical spirit and self-improvement. You know that the project requires the same care, the same attention to detail, the same dedication with which they delight their diners and soon guests. You know that they expect the highest quality, and that they will not settle for less. The challenge is great, the expectations are very high… and our desire is even greater.

Akelarre is allowing us to get closer to a great brand, and to corroborate, once again, that behind it, there are always great people. And that is one of the keys to this project: to be able to transmit in an authentic way and without any pretension, the greatness of a man, of a kitchen, of a way of understanding the service and the care of the client without it being artificial or ostentatious. To transmit the maximum quality and excellence without falling into the artifice, from that discreet serenity that who knows he no longer has to demonstrate anything, and that spirit of overcoming that define the brand and the Subijana family itself.

The whole corporate typography has been revised, refining the anchor points and giving a geometrical coherence thinking in the set of glyphs.

Unification of the radius of the tops, as well as in the tilde of the R, it has been placed according to the extension of the top.

The interletters have been revised to offer an optical uniformity between letters, previously the space between the L and the A was excessive, with too much white space between letters.

As the corporate typography is highly complex in terms of geometry, we have opted for a simple, fine, clear and at the same time forceful baseline typography.

With this new typography there are no surprises in the descending antlers as in the previous one, giving uniformity to the whole.

The white space has been defined as more proportional and in accordance with the size of the logo and the baseline.

But this project for Akelarre has also allowed us to redefine and design the brand’s global website, with the two microsites : restaurant and hotel.

At a design level, the website has a classic cut. The idea was to unify the style between the restaurant and the hotel and above all to make the photographs of the new spaces created for the hotel by Estudio Mecanismo stand out. In the first year of the hotel, it was decided to give priority to this commercial and descriptive vision without giving up on conveying an experience of luxury and wellbeing. The interface reflects the serenity and elegance of the rooms, the exquisite design of spaces and the careful selection of pieces and designer furniture. It also brings the warm touch of the wood tones that dominate the hotel and combines it with the black and white of the Akelarre brand.

In terms of Usability, we made the website particularly easy to surf, and to make it easy to book. The look&feel of the booking engine has been customized to achieve graphic coherence and sensations with the brand. We have also been able to propose a coherent adaptation in tablet and mobile by means of a response interface that ensures that the Akelarre experience remains intact in all three media.

akelarre.net mobile version

Basically, a project that invites you to enjoy the sensations, those of the palate, those of well-being…; and that has allowed us to verify, once again, that innovation starts from questioning previous models and that luxury requires material quality, but especially maximum personalisation, attention to detail, and the slow and unhurried enjoyment of the best of life.

As Pedro would say: “On egin!” (Bon appétit!)

Mandarina Brand Society Mandarina Brand Society

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