Cafe Red

Unlike many design projects, this one involved putting in sweat, blood and tears. Because not only did I craft the branding, colour palette, menu and web UI/UX layout…but I installed the espresso machine, trained baristas, whipped up vegan sandwiches, and saw first-hand what resonates and what falls flat with customers in real time. Together with my business partner Jesiah Wurtz, we built a cafe from a bike cart to a brick-and-mortar mainstay of the Othello neighborhood in Seattle, WA.

Logo Design

Old logo

New logo

The original Cafe Red logo has strong symbolism: a sun rising over the café and mountains that reflect both our Pacific Northwest roots and the origins of coffee. My business partner wanted to keep those elements in a redesign — but we knew we needed something more compact, legible, and versatile.

The original had a lot of charm, but also some challenges: inconsistent line work, awkward spacing, and limited usability across sizes and formats.

My goal was to refine the visual language — honouring the meaning while improving clarity and balance. The updated mark retains the spirit of the original but is easier to scale, apply, and adapt (such as for signage, social icons, and future packaging).

Note: The new logo hasn’t officially launched yet, but it’s already helping us reimagine how our brand shows up in the world.

Boozy menu

The primary vibe we wanted? Fun, approachable, and kind.

Hence the menu design, featuring a blend of high-quality food photography, as a result of many earlier menu iterations where customers wanted to see what they’d be getting. WIth vegan food, people who aren’t used to it may get anxious, so providing clean images of their potential order helped a lot. I used bright colors to create a sense of dynamism, and textured illustrations to bring it to life and add character.

Menu Design

Wall menus

Website

The website had to be accessible on mobile, and we know that our types of customers care about where their products come from. So I made sure to make it easy to read about our sourcing, which is almost completely supporting other local and POC-owned companies.

Packaging is another great canvas for sharing the spirit of our company. So I created a cheekily lovable character, the Oatnilla monster, to emblazon our signature cold brew latte quarts.