Night & Day Bar & Cafe
Visual Identity System
Night & Day Bar & Cafe is a fictional business created for a college design course. It acts as a café during the day and then transitions into a bar in the evening, allowing a wider range of patrons to enjoy the space. The branding elements were created to encapsulate the ideas and goals of the business.
CHALLENGE
The challenge of this project was to create a full identity system for a fictional business of my own creation. I had to build all of the ideas and assets myself to explore the branding. The goal was to create the idea for the business, and then expand the branding as far as possible to represent the brand identity.
RESEARCH
Building a brand from the ground up requires a lot of forethought and brainstorming before moving forward with a final product. I reflected on my own values and ideas to come up with the premise of the business. Once I had the idea I chose a physical space in the local Des Moines area to be the location for the business.
Competitor Analysis: Looking at similar locations around the Drake University area, my main competitors would be other local restaurants and entertainment businesses, as I would also like to host live music and other events to invite more guests.
The playhouse: Comedy
Xbk’s: Live music venue and bar
Mar’s cafe: Coffee shop and café
Drake diner: Local restaurant
LOCATION
I chose to have the storefront be Mars Cafe in Dog Town because of its location, appeal, and internal structure. The large class siding makes it very inviting and brings in a lot of natural light, which would make it feel bright during the day and inviting to see from the outside at night. The space goes with my values of being rejuvenating and high-energy, as well as being interpretable and comforting.
IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT
To begin creating the branding for the business, I created a thorough mood board of images and designs I felt inspired by and wanted to emulate in the branding. I wanted to communicate a sense of contrast and duality in the branding, so I gravitated towards designs with high contrasting themes.
LOGO DESIGN
Once I had an idea of what I wanted the overall feel of the branding to be, I began to develop the main logo of the business. I had a very thorough brainstorming and sketching process to find different connections to make with the ideas of the brand.
Sketches: I spent a while developing the style of the logo to fit the principles of the brand. I eventually landed on creating a seal logo with a rustic style. I implemented imagery that alludes to the idea of duality and change between night and day.
I decided to make the early bird (chicken) and night owl the mascots of the brand, and so their inclusion drove the ideas of the logo sketches.
Development: Moving onto digital iterations, I focused on developing scale, colors, and composition of the logo. I added in the two bird illustrations and increased their scale to balance the logo.
Color and Finalizing: The colors of the brand feel inviting, energetic, and familiar. Keeping the themes of contrast and duality, I had the bright orange and muted green created the primary tension of the brand.
EXPANDING THE BRAND
Using the ideas and themes created in the logo, the next step was to expand the branding out to different forms. This required me to look at the different ways that I could use the brand while also being functional with the designs of collateral.
Illustrative pattern: I created this illustrated pattern to be used throughout different brand elements. The pattern adds texture and nuance to the design, and even includes references to Drake’s campus and the college lifestyle of the Dog Town area.
BRAND IN ACTION
I continued to expand the applications of the brand in a multitude of forms and styles, adhering to the principles I set out and ensuring that the brand Identity shines through.
Grand opening poster
Letterhead template
Daytime and nighttime menus
Cup design mockups
Storefront mockup
REFLECTION
This project was a very worthwhile and satisfying project to see come together, allowing me to visualize the business as a real place I would like to visit. It challenged me to combine all my design and research skills into one project, and I'm proud of the outcome.