beware of the kids!
a children friendly café, in need of a rebranding.
Role / Brand strategist & designer
Client / KEA
Industry / Hospitality
Deliveries / Strategy & visual identity
the visual starting point
Café “Sweet Surrender”
Their name and logo are the only consistent visual element across their touchpoints with the costumers. Other than that, it changes a bit from platform to platform, regarding their font use, colours etc. Their imagery is mostly food-oriented, showcasing their menu items. They don’t illustrate strongly enough that they are a children friendly café.
Summary
brief & problem
A complete rebranding of the café. – People are confused about the name, and it is not clear enough that it is a children friendly café.
Their level of awareness has been at a standstill for several years, and with more new competitors entering the market space, they are forced to create a more recognizable brand.
client (school case)
“Sweet Surrender” – A children friendly, non-profit café that wants to give all its visitors a break from the turmoil of everyday life by serving high-standard coffee and tea, affordable and with a warm smile.
insight
"My kids are a reflection of myself”.
As an extension of oneself, parents want to be able to identify with products and services for their kids.
solution
“A new “kids first” identity that clearly illustrates that kids are welcome at the café.
The playful elements are combined with otherwise minimalistic and Nordic-looking design elements, to ensure that the parents will feel like it’s a place they want to be at as well. It’s a clean looking kids café to support that they’d happily share stories on socials or recommend to friends.
identity
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Name/logo
Kyhn is the name of one of the cafe's founders and sets the stage for a more personal approach to the brand. It should feel like stopping by a good friend and getting a cup of coffee, which is also the reason why the name is "at Kyhn’s" and not just Kyhn. In addition, it is short and memorable compared to the original name.
The logo itself is based on Helvetica and combined with hand-drawn children's elements to illustrate the meeting between a minimalist Nordic style and a playful environment with high ceilings and room for play.
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Icons
Clean and fresh settings with minimalistic interior design and a Nordic aesthetic feel to it.
Text elements on imagery should be used sparingly, and the colour scheme is mostly within a toned-down greyish scale.
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Imagery
With new collections coming every month, with varying styles and concepts, the general colour palette of the brand had to be subtle, modern and make space for the prints themselves. Therefore, I went with a variation of grey tones from light to dark and added a "sandy" Orange to bring some earth nuances.
