"A seal, not a logo."
An emblem for a small European coffee shop, built to stamp onto packaging, cups and signage — with the surrounding brand system authored for this portfolio.
A small coffee shop in Europe wanted an emblem rather than a wordmark — something they could use in a lot of places, packaging included.
The emblem was the commission. The palette, typefaces and usage rules here were authored for this portfolio to show the system it belongs to.
An emblem has to survive every reproduction method a cafe uses: foil on a kraft bag, a single-colour stamp, an embossed cup, an engraved plate, a tiny app icon.
That rules out anything with fine detail or more than two colours.
A circular seal: the name set around a ring, 'est. 2021' at the foot, and a top-down cup with a saucer handle forming the G in the centre. Two colours, no gradients, no thin strokes.
Guild teal on charcoal roast is the whole palette — the mark needs no outline on either. Archivo extends the ring's grotesque into headlines, Work Sans handles menus, and Courier Prime is reserved for roast dates and batch numbers so the packaging reads like a docket.