I decided to re-brand Costa coffee. My reasons for this are the current bad press about them in the media, “23 Costas got two or less stars in most recent inspections”. A bacteria was found on Pennines that can paralysis or even kill. Mice droppings as well as actual dead mice where also found resulting in multiple stores being closed. For my primary research I went for a coffee in my local Costa I found that it did not seem to have many customers between 18-24. I found this strange as Leeds is somewhere there is a large amount of students. A large majority where adults on or to there way from work and elderly people. I believe this is due to there outdated interior aesthetics which reflects on the brand as als0 outdated. In response to my findings I decided that a new logo would be a great way to bring attention away from the current bad press while trying to appeal to youths more. I thought the coffee was not presented very well. It differs a great deal from how they present it on there website.
Expanding on my experience in Costa there was a few things that stood out to me the main as I said previously is it being outdated. I think this is because carpets and chairs look very old with a variety of patterns on. There also seems to be a lack of consistency with the furnisher, they will have lots of different types of chairs around a table for me this is very anaesthetically pleasing and quite annoying as it means you have people sitting at all difference heights. As well as this I also thought the coffee was not presented very well. It differs a great deal from how they present it on there website this comes down to quality control and the lack of it which could be linked into unmotivated staff, or another thought was staff treating customers based on age. Serving with less effort as they don’t feel they have to try. As a majority of staff are younger adults them selves. I personally would not go out of my way to find a Costa for a coffee.
There outside logo is not terrible and it does look quite smart however with all the press at the moment about how they have to been living up to the hygiene standard and even having stores closed down, I figure this is a good enough reason to rebrand them with a clean new image. Here are a few of the articles I read up on the subject (http://metro.co.uk/2015/10/10/costa-coffee-ordered-to-improve-hygiene-after-rotting-mouse-discovered-5432352/)
I also collected some good primary research from inside the store such a take away cups, reward cards, gift cards, charity's and companies they work with and a list of coffees they do. In fairness I could not find fault in the list of coffees they do it was very nicely designed and printed on great paper with a good feel and virbrant colour. However I feel that there cups and gift cards all outdated with the wavey pattern which I suppose is resembling steam.
I also do not understand why they use two logos one of which I feel is just unnecessary. I intend to get rid of the circular logo and create one solid logotype to keep the brand simply and straight to the point. I feel this icon is to clustered Costa is known well enough now for them to not need this icon. I feel it comes across slightly tacky and full on.
I decided to look into colour to help use them more effectivly in my logo development I also took ideas from the lecture we have been having to do with colour. The explained how colours near each other on the colour wheel are analogous colours and they blend subtle together. The book is called “graphic design the new basics” by Ellen Lupton and Jennifer Cole Phillips. The second thing I came across was metaphoric lettering I found these to be pretty interesting as I love photography I thought this would be a great one to try out. I had the idea to create a Costa logo from coffee stains which I did. I found it a helpful experiment and is something which could of been used within advertising with more time.
Next I looked at "100 ideas that changed graphic design" by Steven Heller & Veronique Vienne. In here I found a few tehinques I would like to try out within the project aswell as some interesting information on decorative logotypes.
Although I'm sure I want to keep my logotype simply at this point it was interesting to read up on an alternative way to try it if I change my mind, I may even still give it a go for one of my ideas.
I decided to try out some simply kerning using the letters from our studio task. Just playing around to see how different spacing can alter meanings. I found the closer it was kerned the more of a message it portrayed.
Next I decided to look into library and bookstores as I feel they have such a nice aura within them something that would be ideal in a coffee shop. Both can come across cosy, warm and welcoming all things I would like my re brand to show. I made a Pinterest board and found a ton of influence’s for me to go back to while designing my logos. I had the idea to incorporate this into the brand image by having a large majority of Costa’s open in library’s or bookstores and taking Costa in hospital's down. It is currently ruining there reputation through bad hygiene.
I looked into coffee filters and machines to see what ideas they could give me. One of the coffee filters that really stood out to me was one the chemax I thought it would be great used in adverts as people will relate this to high quality coffee due to its reputation of making great coffee. It could also become a method of making coffee to go with the new brand image. I also drew some illustrations of the chemax with the influence from Nidificate a coffee shop branding project from Behance. The idea of having a pattern made off all different types of coffee strainers. This could be put onto cups etc.
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I love interior design and for me this is a just as important part of branding, although we are not doing interior and the briefs for logotype I still think its a great place for me to get inspirations and good idea of how I want to rebrand. As I say early costa's interior design is awful tacky and just not up to par with some of the other coffee chains an example of this is this Starbucks in Amsterdam.
Then just a selection of images I gained inspiration from I love how they use wordwork within the shops and its defiantly contributed to my decision to have the rebrand abit rustic while trying to keep aspects such a friendly and still about corporate as it is still a international brand.
Next I had a look into current popular coffee shops in London and there target audiences and how they relate to my rebrand. Firstly I found Monmouth coffee company in Covent garden this uses a serif font I believe this is because it is a more upmarket coffee shop with a more niche target audience. This helps justify my design decision to use a san-serif as I am trying to appeal to a much larger audience.
Then I had a look at a Prufrock coffee which used a different approach the logo is a san-serif and uses negative space within a droplet this is innovative and contempary. Inside seems to be much more contemporary and a little less chic than monmouth, attracting a more wider audience. This again justifies my decision to stick with a san-serif font as I am targeting a wide audience.
The third company I looked into was kaffeine a London based coffee shop which took inspiration from Australian coffee shops. It started as one a has now grown into two coffee shops in London this shows its success and how not all logos need to look bold and corporate to succeed. Its targets a audience of day to day workers in London with there welcoming outside and flashy interior, on there website it seems to be a broad audience of people in the photos. There logo type is a script san-serif which plays with flicks and curls. I want to take influences from this as I think it appeals to a younger adult audience whilst still keeping current consumers, however I would not use this style for the whole word as it could be to over bearing.
Another trend I have noticed is none of these coffee shops just sell coffee there is a big demand for fresh organic ingredients now and it is probably where a large majority of there profits come from, Costas food is good however for what you pay the sandwiches lack a serious amount of filling and there is very slim basic selection. What I’m finding at these independent coffee shops is that there is a much wider choice of food with much more interesting recipes this is from personal experience and is why I myself will not really use places such as Costa and Starbucks also the coffee is never as good but they are much more accessible. As extra research i also asked my flatmates where they would go for a coffee all three said a more independent coffee shop as they find them to be more cosy and better coffee, the cost is also very similar. To back up this point when i was in costa i found a majority of the audience seem to be adult coming from work or on there way to work. with this rebrand i do not want to appeal only to students or young adults but i want to give my logo some kind of edge which will spark interest for youngsters while still keeping focus on adults.
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