Cool Beans is a coffee and sandwich shop that opened in Adel, IA. The owners contacted me prior to opening, looking for a logo, frequent customer punchcard, and other identity pieces for this start-up business. The Cool Beans name had been chosen, and the owners had already installed a colorful, striped awning on the front of the building — so that became our starting point.
The interior of the coffee shop was being finished in warm tones, hand-crafted wood, and an overall craftsman style. It was important to convey this same small town, welcoming feel into the logo and typeface. By using an overhead view, I achieved an interesting take on an otherwise common coffee mug — allowing us to keep visual focus on the "beans" for a bond between business name and logo. By using the awning's stripe pattern on the back side of the cards, we created a fun visual tie-in between the cards and the physical building.
A small quantity of punchcards were digitally printed, signs were applied to the building's windows, a website was created, and employee t-shirts were worn. Unfortunately, the business has since been sold and the Cool Beans name no longer exists. But the striped awning remains on the building today, reminding me of this fun project.