Moon Cafe
Deliverables: Branding, Creative Direction, Illustration, Branded Collaterals
For: Moon Cafe
Moon Cafe is a family-owned business located at the University of Michigan. They opened up their doors in 2018 and is home to authentic Korean food and froyo. Although they had big goals in mind, their branding did not communicate their authenticity compared to the big cultural impact they had. To connect with their main demographic of college students and better translate their authenticity, they decided to establish a rebrand. Fostering a new homey yet poppy environment would set the tone for their brand purpose: to share the beauty of Korean food in a fun and tasteful way.
Research
CUSTOMERS
When approaching the rebrand project, I made sure to make design decisions that would attract the target demographic. The first step to make was determining Moon Cafe’s market and customers.
Upon conversing with Moon Cafe, they communicated their most commonly visited customers are university students. Because I luckily fit within the target demographic, I had a great insight into their wants and needs. Throughout the process, I consulted with other university students — some who regularly visit Moon Cafe and some who have never before — to consult about the creative direction. I also spent time reading through customer feedback on restaurant review platforms to gain a better insight.
COMPETITION
I also wanted to study more about similar brands within the university campus, including Hola Seoul and Kang’s. Studying what is currently being done by other Korean restaurants within the same space was crucial in enhancing the business strategy and having a better edge.
Project Brief
After conversing with Moon Cafe about the expectations and goals of the rebrand project, I put together a project brief for myself and the client. This was a great start off point to be curious, explore, and make discoveries about the art direction.
Logo Experimentations
I started with creating sketches to develop a conversation between my ideas and the challenge needing to be tackled. When experimenting with ways to visually represent Moon Cafe, I wanted to combine an authentic tone by incorporating patterns or typographic elements found within the Korean culture with a modern and whimsical tone Moon Cafe is pushing towards.
I created several iterations of the logo and received feedback from designers to learn which direction is working most successfully. Everyone enjoyed the design with the calligraphic writing and character illustration the most and encouraged me to further explore that version.
Final Design
THE LOGO
The final logo captures the brand hero - A whimsical illustration of a moon sitting in a cup. The illustration and logotype are drawn by hand — the variation in line weight and imperfection illuminates the friendly character of the brand.
The logo has various lock-ups depending on its use. The illustration or logotype can work on their own or be paired together.
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“the logo perfectly encapsulates their goal of connecting to younger people / college students, while still maintaining the charm that makes Moon Cafe, Moon Cafe”
BRAND IDENTITY SYSTEM
I went through a long process before landing on their final colors. I had originally planned to utilize colors from the current brand identity, to maintain elements for familiarity. However, the colors were not successfully communicating the authenticity of Korean culture. And after conversing with Moon Cafe, they expressed their desires in using red and blue, two iconic colors used to represent the culture, which worked out great. I formatted the colors as RGB and CMYK color models to make sure they work well for both print and web and paired the colors in different color combinations to make sure they work great with each other and not against.
I also wanted to create a balance of modernity and traditionality and decided to mix the olden script logotype with a modern condensed typeface Anton for headers, and sans serif Nimbus Regular for the body copy.
MENU DESIGNS
When creating the menu layouts, I made sure they work well for both print and digital uses, by taking into account the font point size and page dimensions. The menus include hand-drawn illustrations to translate a personal touch. It is also divided into two versions, one for Korean food and the other for Froyo, and they utilize varying colors to create a clear distinction.
BRANDED COLLATERALS
The project also expands into other collaterals, including business cards, stickers, food packaging, T-shirts, and tote bags to further relay the brand’s message and get students excited.
Major Takeaways
THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION
Throughout the process, I realized how crucial it is to be communicative with the Client. Keeping them updated on the process, being transparent about the current challenges I’m working through, and receiving feedback on what they believe is working and isn’t working were extremely helpful.
ALWAYS DO CUSTOMER RESEARCH!
Conversing with regular customers and other designers was key for diving deeper into the challenges needing to be addressed. Speaking with various people throughout the process for feedback on my work and how it can be improved to be more customer-centric and expand beyond the visual aspect of the brand.
“I love Moon Cafe (especially pigging out there after an exam), and the rebrand really captures their local small-eats kind of vibe, while keeping it chic and simple to appeal to college students!”
