H Coffee Mock Rebrand

Fast Facts

Background

This project involved creating a logo as part of a mock rebrand for a real business, H Coffee.

Project Results

With this project I had a better understanding of what makes a good logo/brand, and was ready to apply that learning to future clients.

Lessons learned

The challenge here was to improve upon an existing brand using best practices for branding. Instead of creating something entirely from scratch, I would have to understand an existing business' style and presentation, and decide what ideas to change or stick with.

The Challenge

Design Process

1. Inspiration and ideation. To best understand what would make a good coffee shop brand, I did a lot of research on competitors, target audiences, and the brand's current methods. I came to the conclusion that H Coffee aimed to provide a peaceful, nature-centred environment for customers in the midst of their busy days while providing high-quality products.

I began sketching out logo ideas, using any and every idea I could think of.

Overview

This project involved creating a mock rebrand of an existing business. I would create a logo with 1-page guidelines for H Coffee, a small cafe operating in Manitoba. Although these graphics weren't intended to actually replace the brand's existing ones, it would provide me an opportunity to get experience in brand work.

Best practices for logo design
Creating mockups in Adobe Illustrator
How to create 1-page logo identity guides
How to build upon an existing brand

Case Study

I refined these rough ideas into potential logo designs.

I showed these sketches to my peers for feedback, and one of the most liked designs featured a leaf dripping coffee into a mug. Using that idea I created another round of sketches.

I gathered further feedback on these sketches, and the most popular design was this one, featuring a dripping leaf with "coffee" spelled out in cursive coming from the stem.

2. Digitization. I used my sketch to create digital graphics in Adobe Illustrator. For versatility I made horizontal and vertical versions of the logo.

I wasn't settled on colours yet though. I wanted green and brown to be central colours, so I created a couple different versions.

3. Refinement. I showed my digital designs to my peers for feedback, and the majority of them preferred the version with the green leaf and brown text.

I also got some suggestions for adjusting the size of the letter "H" and the leaf's stem, to help the design flow better.

I updated the existing versions of the logo, and added an icon-only version.