Kris Black Digital Studio

I know what you are thinking:

“Fried Chicken and sushi?! Are you serious? Those don’t go together. Who in their right mind would eat sushi with fried chicken. Its just not American… or Japanese.”

Well, if we were talking about food then I might would agree with you. However, if you’ve ever had a Spider Roll, fried soft shell crab as the main ingredient, then I really don’t think fried chicken and sushi would be a bad combination. Fried Chicken & Sushi is the name of a new Webcomic that will be hitting the ‘Net very soon.

Created by Khalid Birdsong, Fried Chicken & Sushi is inspired by his time spent in Osaka, Japan for two years teaching English. So how does that translate into Fried Chicken & Sushi? Well, Khalid is an African-American which apparently is a rare find in Japan. Here’s what Khalid had to say in our communication:

I’m an African-American man and that is rare over there so I had quite a unique, and humorous experience. I did meet my wife while living there and we moved to California together. My wife’s Japanese family loved to eat KFC fried chicken with sushi and I thought it was a strange combo that actually tastes very good together. We would joke that it’s like a stereotypical version of both of our cultures!

The Challenge

Khalid wanted a logo that blended American fast food with Japanese cuisine. I wanted the logo to remain fun and as unique as the food choices in the name. I also know that this Webcomic is going to be a hit and the logo needs to have optimized variants for different uses:

• a full-color version mainly for use online and in high-end printed material;
• 2-color version for saving money on print material and with merchandise should Khalid decide to get merchandise such as screen-printed t-shirts made; and
• a black and white version for simple print material such as mini-comics Khalid can make himself.

The Fonts

Since Khalid specifically mentioned KFC (formally known as Kentucky Fried Chicken) I researched the Kentucky Fried Chicken logo. The fonts used for that logo are a bit too “serious” and didn’t match Khalid’s art style. I wanted something more playful. The font I settled on was Improv ICG for its use of the serifs that make it feel more “serious,” yet it still maintains a whimsical quality.

Improv ICG by Image Club

I tested several “japanese/manga” style fonts that mimiced the quality of characters created using a brush. However, my connection to the fonts and how they contrasted with Improv ICG just wasn’t working. I also felt like maybe it was too stereotypical to use a brush stroke style character. I then remembered a font I had from the fine font creators at Comicraft called, MadScientist. This was a great alternative as it’s design has a brush-type quality, and with some customization will provide the contrast and feel to make the logo unique.

Mad Scientist by Comicraft

Sketch

Fried Chicken & Sushi Logo SketchSurprising, I arrived to a layout I rather like fairly quickly. As you can see, the proposed sketch of the layout and positioning of the elements within the logo was pretty much determined from the start. My typical process is to work out most of the layout on my Mac in Adobe Illustrator, but this logo seemed to know what it wanted from the start. The one element I had a hard time settling on was the ampersand. I was on the fence with the style of the ampersand I wanted to use. I tried several options from different fonts, but ultimately settled on the Improv ampersand.

The Colors

The colors proved to be a fun challenge. What colors would represent the idea behind this logo? Because the nature of the foods contrasted I wanted the colors to contrast as well. My initial suggestion was the “burnt” orange for Fried Chicken and a greenish-blue for SUSHI. After some discussion with Khalid we decided to switch the greenish-blue for a more “freshwater” blue.

Fried Chicken & Sushi Final Logo Colors

Completion

All that was left to do at this point was design the digital logo. I experimented with different styles for handling the ampersand. In fact, each variation of the logo uses a different ampersand style.

Fried Chicken & Sushi Logo VariationsIn the end, I am super excited about the logo and so was my client, Khalid. I can’t wait to see this logo in action on his site and hopefully on a t-shirt and other printed material.

You can see this logo and other logos I’ve designed in my Portfolio.

I uploaded several pieces to my portfolio sections. New print ads, a banner, t-shirts, lettered comic pages, business cards and a comic book design. I’ve been really busy getting ready for Heroes Con 2008. I’m due to be pulling out of my driveway in five hours. Nothing like the last minute to take care of some business.

I’m attending Heroes Con with the Dollar Bin and will be interviewing creators, recording panels and mingling with fans. I’m looking forward to a fun weekend. I hope to come home with many contacts for my freelance lettering and design to land more work or simply make new friends.