The idea of home shapes Base Design’s identity for Ray’s Waterfront

Ray’s Waterfront is a family-run restaurant and bar on the Small Boat Harbor on Resurrection Bay, in Seward, Alaska – a town of fewer than 3,000 people. Ray Simutis, a former New York taxi driver turned commercial fisherman, and Leslie Simutis, a trained cook, opened it in 1988, Ray working the bar and Leslie the kitchen. After both passed, the restaurant passed to their daughters, Anna and Janina. In the years after 1988, the restaurant accumulated several signs, typefaces and illustrations, spread over menus, printed materials, hats and sweatshirts. “The Ray’s building, food and people were well known for being warm, welcoming and classic. There hadn’t really ever been a brand created, though,” explains Owner & Operator Anna Nozaki. She approached Base Design’s Melbourne studio for an identity that would highlight the history and spirit of Ray’s, spanning the logo, signage, menus, website and merchandise. The studio started from a neon tube sign in a window box, which reads ‘Ray’s Waterfront Bar & Grill’ and has a simple halibut illustration on it. It “was the only consistent branding that remained intact since opening,” she notes. An old hat was the only other thing left with the original lettering on it. “It was important that the brand look classic and not ‘cool,’” Nozaki details. “It needed to be humble and historic. I wanted the fact that this long-standing restaurant was started and continually operated by local families to be apparent immediately before even setting foot inside.”