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Carport Cafe.
Brand Identity
Carport Café is a small, community-focused breakfast spot in Cannon Hill, established in 2019 after transforming an old petrol station into a vibrant, welcoming space. Despite launching just before COVID, the café continued to grow and build a loyal customer base. The business has now branched out into two other locations.
The Brief.
For my assignment in the Symbols and Branding class with Torrens University, I designed the Carport Cafe brand by reimagining the logo of a local business and expanding its brand guidelines. The task involved creating a comprehensive style guide to showcase these new guidelines, ensuring a cohesive and vibrant visual identity. My personal goal was to create a fun, enthusiastic, and friendly atmosphere that reflected the welcoming nature of the cafe, while giving the brand a fresh, modern look that would resonate with a broad audience.
A Quote From The Owner.
"The most important part of owning a local business is supporting others in the community, as when one local business does well it supports and helps the others. Our personality is fun, enthusiastic and welcoming, which we hope to exude through every single meal and coffee we deliver. The Carport Café welcomes customers from all walks of life, from students, people working from home to kids on school holidays. Meeting new and old faces alike, building connections and giving back to the community has become our buisnesses’ purpose"
Primary Logo.
For the Carport Café logo, I explored several early concepts, including a number-plate layout with a mug icon, but feedback showed it felt too cliché. After refining the direction, I focused on edited typography as the hero element, supported by an energetic colour system. The interchanging colours bring warmth and life to the logo while staying cohesive across applications. The final logo is bold, memorable, and distinctly Carport Café, balancing character, clarity, and approachability.
Secondary Logo.
The secondary logo, available in all three brand colours, is designed for smaller applications such as social media posts, stationery, and packaging. It is not a replacement for the primary logo but a simplified alternative when needed. In developing it, I explored how a minimal marks could still communicate brand personality and help build recognition, especially for a small business with limited touchpoints. Using elements like the double “C” ensures versatility and consistency while subtly reinforcing the Carport Café identity across platforms.
Primary Colour Palette.
I spent a lot of time researching and refining the colour palette to make sure it truly represented Carport Café. The final colours, pink, yellow, and blue, are an upgraded version of the originals and were chosen very intentionally. Pink brings warmth and friendliness, yellow adds energy and joy, and blue balances everything with reliability. These core colours are used consistently across all touchpoints to keep the brand cohesive and recognisable. White text is used on each colour to maintain clarity and make the brand feel bright, welcoming, and easy to identify wherever it appears.
Carport Blue
Carport Pink
Carport Yellow
Secondary Colour Palette.
The secondary palette includes six colours and is only used when the primary colours don’t work visually or feel overused. These shades are supporting options, not meant to replace the core palette, and should only be used alongside primary colours, never all together.
Selected Typeface.
The Carport Café brand uses Darkmode exclusively, with selected weights to maintain consistency. Headings use Darkmode Black, subheadings Darkmode Xbold, and body copy Darkmode Medium. Sizes adjust per medium, but the hierarchy must stay clear. This structured use of type supports a consistent and considered brand voice.
Additional Pattern.
An additional graphical pattern was developed to expand the visual toolkit. Within the mock-ups, it demonstrates versatility across packaging, merchandise, and artistic applications. The design exploration highlights its strength as a standalone element, where its form and rhythm can be fully appreciated without accompanying text or other graphics. To maintain consistency within the system, Carport Yellow is the only supporting colour allowed to be integrated alongside the pattern.
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