CARPORT CAFE
BRAND DESIGN
GRAPHIC & ILLUSTRATION DESIGN
Carport Café is a community-focused breakfast spot located in Cannon Hill and Wynnym, born from a converted petrol station in 2019. Despite launching just before COVID, the brand grew a loyal following and has since expanded to two additional locations.
THE GOAL
For one of my university assignments, the brief was to pick a local business to re-design. I chose the Carport Cafe. Their branding hadn't evolved alongside their growth, from one converted petrol station to a multi-location café group. They needed an identity that could scale across locations while staying true to that fun, welcoming, community spirit, not something generic or corporate.
THE APPROACH
I treated this as a full identity system, not just a logo refresh, thinking about how it needed to work everywhere from a tiny social icon to large-scale packaging. I explored a few directions early on, including a number-plate-style logo and a coffee cup with wheels, but both felt too literal. I landed on edited typography as the hero, paired with an energetic, interchanging colour system.
THE OUTCOME
The result strikes a balance between character, clarity, and warmth. A simplified "CC" mark handles the smaller touchpoints, social, stationery, packaging, wherever the primary logo doesn't fit. The palette (pink, yellow, blue) keeps things bright and consistent, and I expanded the toolkit further with a custom symbol set, a pattern, and a landing page concept.
THE APPROACH
I treated this as a full identity system, not just a logo refresh, thinking about how it needed to work everywhere from a tiny social icon to large-scale packaging. I explored a few directions early on, including a number-plate-style logo and a coffee cup with wheels, but both felt too literal. I landed on edited typography as the hero, paired with an energetic, interchanging colour system.
THE OUTCOME
The result strikes a balance between character, clarity, and warmth. A simplified "CC" mark handles the smaller touchpoints, social, stationery, packaging, wherever the primary logo doesn't fit. The palette (pink, yellow, blue) keeps things bright and consistent, and I expanded the toolkit further with a custom symbol set, a pattern, and a landing page concept.
CARPORT CAFE
How I'd Refine Carport Café's Brand Identity for Long-Term Growth
Carport Café is a community-focused breakfast spot located in Cannon Hill and Wynnym, born from a converted petrol station in 2019. Despite launching just before COVID, the brand grew a loyal following and has since expanded to two additional locations.
THE BREIF & CHALLENGE
Carport Café's original branding hadn't evolved alongside its growth, from one converted petrol station to a multi-location café group. The brand needed a visual identity that could scale across locations while still feeling true to its original community spirit: fun, welcoming, and modern, not generic or corporate. The challenge wasn't just refreshing a logo — it was building a full, flexible system that could work across packaging, merchandise, social media, and a growing physical footprint.
