Bask A Vibrant Brand Identity for a Modern Swansea Café
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Sector: Hospitality, Food & Beverage
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Discipline: Brand Identity, Logo Design, Packaging, Merchandise Design
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Role: Brand & Visual Designer
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Outcome: A comprehensive brand identity system, including logo, brand pattern, and extensive packaging and merchandise mock-ups.
The Brief & The Challenge
The core challenge was to design a brand that could break the stereotype of bland, pretentious British coastal cafés, creating an identity that felt modern, authentic, and deeply connected to the local Swansea environment. The strategic process involved a competitive audit of local cafés and a deep dive into naming theory to find a unique market position. The final chosen name was 'Bask', evoking a sense of warmth, relaxation, and cats basking in the sun.
Process & Design System
The process began with extensive research into the Swansea coastline, local heritage, and a visual and strategic audit of competitor cafés. This led to a key strategic decision to avoid literal coastal imagery and instead develop a more abstract, geometric visual language that could convey the essence of the location through shape and colour.
Logo & Identity Development:
After exploring multiple illustrative concepts, including several based on a cat mascot, the final direction was a bold, geometric logotype spelling 'Bask' each letter is constructed from simple shapes representing elements of the Swansea landscape mountains, waves, and sailing while the colour palette was inspired by observations of local competitors, creating a look that is contextually relevant.
![Coastline cafe [Recovered]-14.png](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7019e8_b43fc83d0b554e15a6345bd542075b97~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_489,h_655,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/7019e8_b43fc83d0b554e15a6345bd542075b97~mv2.png)
Brand World & Application
The brand identity was designed as a flexible system. A dynamic pattern was created from the geometric shapes of the logo, which was then applied across a wide and ambitious range of materials. This included items like coffee cups, staff uniforms, but also seasonal items like Halloween cups and merchandise.