Uncategorized Archives • Biang Design

For the Amsterdam Ramen festival I have designed an Amsterdam Ramen map. In today’s blogpost I am sharing the creative process behind it. How to design an Amsterdam Ramen map?

First of all, you need to have the idea. The idea came from Susam Pang from bySam.nl. She is a foodblogger located in Amsterdam and had done all the research about the ramen restaurants.

1. Specifications

You need to be clear about specifications of the map.
– what kind of information?
– what is the size of the map?
– what kind of style? (Lazy Pig’s sketchy style. This part was for me.)

Susam had sketched the basic idea of the map and we discussed every part so I could create a plan in my head on how to design it.
– what kind of typeface?
– what kind of colors?
– what kind of drawings?
– what parts are free for my imagination?
– what kind of texts?

2. Designing

I started with drawing the Amsterdam map first. What kind of style will the map look like? Hand-drawn, flat design (blocked colors), sketchy? It takes some time to find a style to my liking. I used a lot of map drawings from Pinterest as inspiration. How detailed will the map be? What colors will be used? How to do hand lettering? All these questions need to be answered with a design choice.

Susam also had some nice examples which gave me inspiration. When a part of the map was done I showed it to Susam and got feedback. Is it to your liking? Do you think A or B? A lot of back and forth talking is needed to find something that the client will like.

Time is also important for creating ideas. Sometimes you need to let the design rest and your brain will continue thinking about it and come up with an idea. And thus is how a design comes together.

➜ visualizing ➜ trying out things ➜ failing and crying ➜ finding inspiration ➜ trying new things ➜ design should be okay now.

Here is a screenshot of my Illustrator file in the middle of the process. I drag a lot of inspiration pictures around the artboard.

3. Software used

The map is drawn in Photoshop and then dragged into Illustrator for text editing. The sketches are drawn in Photoshop, because in Photoshop you can create a more sketchy feeling. I used a Wacom Intuos pen & touch medium to draw. During sketching I also learned that my Wacom has extra pen pins in the back. You learn something every day.

Have a lovely day, enjoy the sun!

Get the map

You can buy the map for 5,83 euro on bySam.nl. You will get a printed A3 version posted to you.

(Original post from lazypigpassion.com)

Finally I can present to you Saitou’s movie: The Magic of Ramen. After hours of editing it is finally done!
Thank you Theo for showing us around in your windmill. Thank you Lazy Penguin for helping me shoot and giving me feedback during the process. And thank you Saitou for letting me film and make this awesome video!

A little background information

Why did you make this movie?
I love to eat ramen/noodles. When I discovered Yokohama Ramen Saito and ate his ramen, I was so delighted with the taste that I wanted to share his story.

Why did Saitou come to the Netherlands to start his ramen restaurant?
I didn’t put his whole story in the video, so I will share it here in text:

Saitou grew up in a noodle loving family. When he was a youngster he had three part-time jobs, all in a noodle restaurant. He wanted to do something with noodles in the future and he really wanted to go abroad. When Saitou got a job in Japan he was a sales person for a noodle factory. He didn’t make the noodles, but ate it four times per day and sold it to clients. After working in the sales for a long time, he decided to go abroad. He chose the Netherlands, because they have good relationship with Japan and that made it easier to get a working permit.

Now in the Netherlands he makes his own ramen. He uses the flour from the windmill “De Vrijheid” across his restaurant. The ramen-making process from the video is usually done in the late evening. Saitou doesn’t need to put any chemicals in his ramen to keep them fresh, since he doesn’t need to ship/transfer them. Saitou loves ramen very much. So much, that he hopes he will die while making ramen. Then he can drop his body in the soup and become ramen…
(This is a joke guys, don’t take it seriously.)

But, he is very serious about his love for ramen. His life goal is to bring ramen to Europe, so that every country (or city) in Europe has a ramen restaurant with their own special taste. Just like all the types of ramen in Japan. I really would like to see that happen. That’s why I am contributing to that goal by sharing his story.

Start your own noodle restaurant

Also for people who are interested in starting a noodle restaurant; Saitou is very willing to share his noodle-making skills (the dough part, not the soup.). He is planning a “Making Japanese Noodle”-workshop soon. When it will be and where? I don’t know. But he will share the information on his website and his Facebook. So follow him there.

Category: Uncategorized

How to design a ramen map