RESEARCH
The idea for Luxe Cafe originated with my desire to have a “luxurious” feeling that still felt achievable, without having customers worry about price. I was reminded of the luxury of France, Italy, and other European countries. I started researching European cafes to find ones that matched the mood I was looking for in my own cafe brand.
BRAINSTORMING
Using the mood of summer, the brainstorming process for Luxe Cafe began. I love using word lists—despite my illegible handwriting—to find a range of what I could explore in regards to Luxe Cafe’s brand identity.
COLOR PALETTE
The colors for Luxe Cafe were heavily inspired by the cities of Copenhagen, Paris, and general color theory associated with the season of summer, happiness, and relaxation.
WORDMARK
Logo exploration began with sketches inspired by serif typefaces, recycled logos, elegant lines, and traces of cursive. I wanted to simplify and modernize my logo into something that was still elegant, but also sleek and minimal. The final wordmark is a product of custom typography.
ICON
The Luxe Cafe logo focused mainly on the stand-alone wordmark, which was later combined with an icon. I drew inspiration from European landscapes and wineries, with an abstract, cursive “L” that stems from the cafe's name.
COMBINATION LOGO
Choosing colors was difficult as I wanted to express both the vibrancy of summer and the cafe's elegance. The ultimate decision of choosing one color for both the wordmark and the combination logo was based on the commitment to luxury, letting other aspects of the brand speak for itself.
VISUAL THEME
The visual theme consists of gradients, using the cafe’s color palette and each color’s variant tints and shades. The summer sunset and sunrise were the focal inspirations behind the gradient effect. To accent the cafe’s elegance, simple white line drawings are added; these are inspired by the abstract “L” from the combination logo.
APPLICATION
