Dark Roast
BRANDING, PACKAGING, ILLUSTRATION | INSTRUCTION: JENNY KOWALSKI | ILLUSTRATOR, PHOTOSHOP, PROCREATE
1. Introduction
Dark Roast is a fictional cafe and venue that serves coffee, tea, and plant-based meals. This space is a home away from home, somewhere for like-minded people to come together and appreciate good music. Dark Roast also aims to provide a place for local musicians to share their craft. With a meticulously-crafted playlist and a funky stage space, there isn’t a boring moment here. Overall, Dark Roast is a 70’s rock n’ roll-inspired cafe and venue that serves up quality coffee, plant-based meals, and good tunes.
2. Background
The idea for Dark Roast was inspired by what I witnessed first-hand in 2020; the pandemic took a toll on so many people, especially musicians and artists. My dad is a musician, and seeing how the past few years have affected him was a huge reason why I wanted to create a space for music and art to thrive (he even helped with the name!). As in-person events and indoor gatherings became unsafe, all creatives had to work twice as hard to keep their craft alive. So, Dark Roast is a place dedicated specifically to creatives. I wanted to design a space where people could come together over good food and coffee to enjoy live music. As both a venue and a cafe, people would be able to relax, spend time with friends and family, and see talented musicians perform. Deliverables for this project included two menus, a social media page, stickers, and two illustrations of the interior spaces.
3. Process
Dark Roast went through a number of phases during the design process; it started out as something completely different. In the beginning, Dark Roast had a much more serious and refined feel, aiming towards a much more specific audience. It was very dark, alternative, and moody. After a few attempts at a blackletter logo, I decided to focus on coffee and music-related imagery that had a punky, fun feel. As seen in the sketches above, I landed on a few different skull characters. Through experimenting with different vinyl images, typefaces, and characters, I decided that the type being confined in a record wasn’t quite working. I knew I wanted my skull character to go along with a more funky, bubbly type. Although it was moving in the right direction, it still wasn’t there yet, so I sketched out some more ideas with this mood in mind.
The winking skull character captured the carefree, unique energy I was trying to convey through my brand. (In fact, I ended up loving it so much, I incorporated it into my personal branding!) After establishing this, I was able to move forward with the final logos, as seen below.
4. Deliverables
Deliverables for this project included a main menu, a specialty drink menu, stickers, an Instagram page, and illustrations of the interior cafe and stage spaces. Each menu item on the ‘Meals’ and ‘Specials’ pages was inspired by some of my favorite bands from the 1970’s and 1980’s .
A huge aspect of the Dark Roast brand is the physical space. The interiors need to convey the same mood as the rest of the designs, which is: bold, funky, retro. I researched interior design in different settings, such as cafes, bars, lounges, and personal homes. Although this is a cafe, I wanted it to feel like a home-away-from-home, a place to spend time relaxing and enjoying the atmosphere.
I was incredibly inspired by modern takes on 70s decor and was sure to include lots of retro lamps and art pieces. I also looked at jazz bar interiors; colors, patterns, textures, and lighting were all crucial in creating the perfect environment. Below are the sketches and final deliverables for both the main lounge/cafe area and the stage space.
5. Conclusion
Throughout the process of creating Dark Roast, I found myself constantly wishing this was a real space. Friends and family expressed that they would love to go somewhere like this, as well. Next steps for this process include doing more research into how to make this possible financially. Would it be a stand-alone location? Should it be located in a city with an already-thriving art and music scene, or should it be brought to a smaller town? No matter where it’s located, Dark Roast could provide a warm and welcoming space for creatives to come together and establish a much-needed sense of community.
In the meantime, while you wait for me to make this place a reality, take a listen to the “official” Dark Roast playlist (aka a collection of some of my favorite songs)!
Credits
Stock images from Unsplash
Main menu mockup by Sean McCabe
Specialty menu mockup from Zippypixels
Sticker mockup from CosmoStudio on Freepik
Phone mockup from Crowf on Freepik
“Eckmannpsych” typeface from Oh No Type Co.
And a special thank you to Jenny Kowalski for guiding me through this project!
