Jol: A Modern Soul Food Resturaunt

If you haven’t read my past blog post, What Is Capstone? I really recommend doing so. Some of the things I say in this post may be a little muddy, so I recommend referring back to that one if you would like more insight on what My senior Capstone project will be like.

As a graphic Design Major, we are expected t take on our capstone in our last year at Maryville. This project can be a multitude of smaller projects or one in-depth larger scale project. For my project, I have decided to go down the route of Creating a Soul Food restaurant with an updated look and feel to it.

JOL

Noun. South African Slang for “a time of having fun; a party”.

My restaurant is Named Jol because I want to create an environment that is pretty informal but still connects many with the kind of food they grew up with in the southern states while introducing this cuisine to many people who might never have had American soul food before.

American soul food takes a lot of influences from African cuisine while also infusing foods and ideas from Spanish and French cuisine. I will be combining the cultural significance of these foods with the current era to create a restaurant and an experience similar to that of restaurants like Seoul Taco and Nudo here in STL.

I want to create an inviting culture within the building while also spreading this kind of food around the country. I want to build a community rooted in the nostalgia that I have for this food. Since I grew up with this kind of food, I'm very used to showing people it, but I do believe that it is long overdue for an upgrade. Most Soul food spots in and around Saint Louis, are very dated and mostly are just mom & pop shops. I want to bring an electric feeling to the food I know so well by creating a spot that I would love to bring my friends to.

Design Materials

For my actual project, I will be creating a large breadth of work that helps people understand what this brand will look like. This will include Signage in and around the building, Menu Design, Website/app mockups for online ordering, and designing packages for the food to be stored in.

I'm excited to continue on this process, especially now that all the pieces are falling into place and I'm starting to have more concrete ideas about what I am going to be doing this semester. Be sure to keep up to date with my blog to know where I am in the Design process over the next couple of months!