Rebranding design for a high-concept cafe, market research, and design of an interactive website and tablet menu
Rebranding Design, UX Research, Web Design, Prototype
03/2021 – 05/2021
The cafe is in a traditional Beijing Siheyuan (Quadrangle), a classical architecture style of residential housing of Beijing. It comprises of garden surrounded by four houses and protected by high walls.
It provides various coffees, desserts, teas, and traditional snacks for people. The quiet and cozy quadrangle heals people with an enjoyable coffee time from their busy life.
Faith Cafe is located in Beijing, China. This cafe blends Chinese and Western culture to serve traditional Beijing snacks and various coffees. Faith Cafe conveys a high-concept of the power of silence and a slow tempo of life.
Traditional Beijing Siheyuan (Quadrangle)
Translation: Please turn down your voice, feel the power of quietness.
The Main Gate
The traditional quadrangle makes a unique style for Faith Cafe. However, the word “FAITH” is too plain and small as a logo in the cafe’s main gate. Many visitors need to take a while to find the right place.
Exploring some related products, including business cards and coffee cups, can refine the cafe to be more memorable.
The Logo “FAITH”
Drink & Food
Faith Cafe combines Chinese and Western tastes. The mellow coffee and crispy snacks make a new characteristic combination. The desserts are popular with lovely styles and taste delicious. The prices of creative alcoholic espresso’s cold drip coffee are on the high side, but the classical coffees like flat white, dirty, and latte have a fair price.
Service and Environment
I love the unique quadrangle surroundings of the Cafe as if I am in a quiet and private space that isolates me from the outside world. Sitting on the second floor with the open air to look far makes me calm and relax.
However, due to the secluded path in Hutong, I took a while to find the main entrance, and the gate’s logo is not striking enough.
Also, the flat white with the traditional snacks is an interesting combination and very tasty. The barista is a silent lady who has hearing impaired, but she likes to communicate with customers using a written board.
Emotion, Rustic Charm, and Feelings
The cafe’s courtyard displays a rustic charm with the traditional quadrangle architecture of ancient Beijing. The simple swing reminds me of childhood, and life is like back in the past days.
There is no background music or noise in the cafe, and it truly made me slow down my thought to get healed by spending a leisurely afternoon with my coffee.
Faith Cafe attracts lots of tourists to see the traditional quadrangle of Beijing while having a coffee. They can also experience the Hutong that through in the ancient alleys to find the cafe.
As one of the most frequent visitors, bloggers love this diversified place where they can collect materials for video and notes. More than 90% of reviews like the interesting taste of combining flat white and crispy snacks.
Coffee lovers are another main target clientele since the cafe’s owner loves to create new tastes and has an in-depth study of coffee. He also likes to talk with professionals who understand coffee.
Many local residents come to Faith Cafe on the weekend with their family and friends. Some people like to come on their own to have a cozy afternoon with a coffee to relax their body and mind.
The home page presents introductory information, which contains the navigation bar of menu, reservation, gallery, about, and contact links.
The menu serves the lists of drinks and food, including espresso, brew, tea, house special, etc. It also incorporates the order system.
The gallery page exhibits shared pictures from the customers that people can view customers’ experience in the cafe. The shared photos option will be provided for new images.
The reservation page offers two options: a phone call and books online. A booking form is required to be filled out to make a reservation online, which contains the date, time, total people, customer’s name, phone, and an optional message.
This project covered comprehensive design knowledge from market research to rebranding and web and tablet design skills.
Through researching the cafe's background, location, and environment, I identified the need for rebranding, including logo, merchandise, and advertising. The competitive analysis helped me understand the brand's strengths in the market, as well as identify the target audience.
Next, I learned to design logo variations, use custom measurements with grids, update iterations, and avoid forbidden usages. Finally, I applied the logo and other stylistic elements to meet the integrated site and interactive menu design.
A mobile application that can help users cope with their stress and improve their sleep quality.
