Signage for restaurant

[hagarack]

Hi - I haven't posted before except on the intro page so hello all! I have a portfolio to prepare for an interview for a short graphic design course and would like to put them out there to see if anyone has any useful advice or comments to share on them.
This one is shopfront signage for a restaurant. It's actually a restaurant that has a front already but had never opened and since I thought their sign was ugly I thought it'd be good sample work for the portfolio. The type of restaurant I imagined it being was a health food restaurant but with nice hearty kinds of dishes, not the anaemic low fat kind that are sometimes on offer. Maybe spicy and ethnic food, that kind of thing. The first design (http://hagarack.deviantart.com/art/Soul-food-sign-clean-95134469) I made doesn't really reflect this but I liked the colours so decided to keep it as an alternate design.
The second one (http://hagarack.deviantart.com/art/Soul-food-sign-warm-95134242) is better I think - the orange colour evokes hunger or food I think. The typeface for soul i supposed to look innocent, evoking the healty side of the food and the typeface for food is supposed to look solid and hearty like the food.
Thanks a lot for having a look and all crits are welcome. I'm gonna post up one more thing on ere too which I'd like to tighten up my technique with.

[gnubler]

Huh? Pictures?

[Red Kittie Kat]

is it me or is there no picture here? :p

[hagarack]

ok the link thing didn't work, please bear with me :). There we go, sorry about that

[Red Kittie Kat]

lol gnubler .. posted same time :D

[Red Kittie Kat]

okie dokie hagarack :)

[WannaBrie]

I see the images, I'm not sure about an empty bowl for a restaurant and the logo looks like it could use some work. I like the simple clean idea that you have, though...and the colors are nice, also I like the tag lines.

[CkretAjint]

Yellow on signage tends to fade a LOT faster then all other colors...

[Tea]

I like the second one better myself. I think something is amiss with the text; the s in soul seems to be a bit off on the spacing/kerning. I'm not digging the halo on the L, but others may chime in and disagree.

And you are correct about orange and hunger.

[hagarack]

Thanks for the practical advice about fading - I live in Ireland so that's actually a really big issue with rain and such. The halo I am a little unsure about too - it's just a modified letter. I'm not great shakes with drawing so I thought it'd be the best way to create a convincing looking halo. Maybe I should cut it altogether. I'll experiment with it a bit.I thought the s looked a bit off too but wasn't sure what to do with it, I'll try moving it a little closer to the next letter. Pity about the colour - the orange looks very inviting, I guess it depends on what surface you're using and where the shop would be. Anyhow that's probabaly not relevant for now because it won't get used but I'll keep it in mind for the future. The empty bowl thing is definitely a concern. I don't think I could modify that image well enough (i.e fill it with an image of food) to make that viable but I need an image that gets across hearty and down to earth. Once again I'll experiment and if I make anything better I'll post it.

[Thijsjanssen]

i would say number one

gr.t.

[PrintDriver]

It's not rain that fades stuff, it's UV light (and sometimes ozone) but sunlight in particular.
Yellow INK on PRINTED signs fade. Usually in less than 3 years.
Yellow die-cut vinyl is good for 7 years or more. If the sign guy gets the 'premium' stuff for you. Beware of cut rate pricing in that respect.
Yellow automotive paint is good for probably longer than the store will last.
Something to keep in mind when creating outdoor signage.