NEW YORK TASTE
The Color of Flavor
New York Taste brings together more than 40 of NYC's top chefs and restaurants for an evening, creating the city's best tasting menu. My team and I designed the event's branding, advertising and experience each year, telling the story with visual flavor.
Role: Art direction + design: brand, advertising, website, environmental graphics
A logo using a ribbon device suggested the premium quality of the participating restaurants. We developed a wide palette of culinary-related colors to use throughout the branding.
BUT HOW?
Through tangential research into topics related to food and cooking, I learned of a chemical phenomenon whereby certain ingredients, when combined with other specific ingredients, cause a chemical reaction resulting in a third flavor, which is completely different from either of its component parts. I crossed this conceptual insight with color theory which states that the way colors are perceived changes based on what colors they abut.
I used this as a jumping off point for a series of graphic experiments using the Taste palette we previously developed.
The result was an abstract graphic element of thin stripes of interlocking colors, which was applied across all touchpoints.
Restaurants were organized geographically by cuisine. We devised a color-coded wayfinding system that extended to the program and signage.
