We Are Cafe : Thesis
Why does community matter?
Experiencing a community, one where you can be your true self, provides a sense of belonging : as someone who doesn’t need to adapt for a group’s standards to be loved and appreciated.
Why does this matter to me? And my thesis? Now, more than ever, community is important... and community is hard. The pandemic has redefined how all of us, especially students, navigate independence, relationships, and our mental health. Through Covid19, students have lost the experience of community — especially during school — with not exploring who they are, meeting new people, and attending events.
Through my thesis, my goal was to:
Encourage young adults to rethink what their own community might look like for them outside of school.
Inspire the intentional pursuit of meaningful relationships as community may not come naturally.
Open a safe space for people who are struggling.
And explore this through the creation of a new cafe brand — one that is intentional about community building for young adults.
The name was chosen because We Are is about the mission behind the cafe and not the cafe itself. It also leaves space for each individual to relate personally to what the cafe means to them.
The logo font is Atrament. A bold and condensed font to be noticed, easy to read, and fit in all spaces. The 3 dots are crucial to the We Are branding. It symbolizes what We Are is: community, intentionality, and solidarity.
The We Are colour palette is made of three colours : orange, blue/green, and dark green.
Orange: engaging and playful for a friendly and upbeat brand personality.
Light blue/green: medium colour between orange and dark green. Its friendly and calming, reflecting an earthy tone from nature.
Dark green: deep, intriguing, but peaceful colour, connecting to the tones of earth and nature. It represents deep connection, thought, and empathy.
We Are’s pattern is made from an assortment of leaves with the brand’s primary colours. This design is inspired by the brand’s playful yet calming personality and presence. The idea is to bring the outdoors in and have a space of warmth. The pattern is used through different brand applications, signage, social media, and more.
For my secondary deliverable,
I designed a packaging series
for Mindful Bakers — We Are’s
home baking kit.
Mindful Bakers is a recipe box with the instructions and ingredients
for customers to remake their
favourite We Are recipes.
The Mindful Bakers name comes
from We Are’s mission of creating
and sharing food that’s delicious
and wholesome. And these boxes encourage the act of healthy baking at home.
Each kit holds with one recipe of choice. The kit comes in a box with all the ingredients inside, in recyclable and reusable tins, jars, and containers.
We Are also encourages customers to return their used containers to the
cafe, where the cafe will reuse them. We Are then offers a discount on future boxes from the returns.
A brand manual book was designed to showcase the complete overview of the We Are Cafe brand.
