Bruma

A studio, not a café.

The founder wanted Bruma to reflect a considered approach to coffee: carefully sourced beans, specific roasts, different brewing methods and unusual drinks. “Coffee Studio” expressed that sense of craft and exploration. The identity needed to make it feel young and welcoming.

Early rounds were drawn for Bruma Café and Pâtisserie. We also weighed Bruma Coffee House before landing on Bruma Coffee Studio, a name that felt closer to craft. We refined the descriptor’s size and type, then settled on uppercase lockups that could work both stacked and horizontally. Removing a coffee-bean detail kept the wordmark cleaner.

Bold type, warm colour.

The wordmark is a narrow, confident BRUMA with the U tilted out of line, a small slant that became the signature of the whole brand. It comes stacked, or side by side with Coffee Studio.

Yellow was the founder’s favourite, so I gave it a clear role in the identity: Sunset Gold across key applications, with yellow hand-drawn accents over photography. Vanilla and a coffee-brown Charcoal give the brighter colours room to stand out.

Owners X Narrow sets the headlines. Just like the U in the logo, one or two letters in each heading are italicised. Aminute adds a few curvy glyphs for fun, and Owners carries the body.

Drawn by hand.

Coming from an art background, I brought hand-drawn elements into the identity.

Every illustration, character and sticker was drawn by hand for Bruma, first in line and then in colour, from moka pots and croissants to a small cast of coffee characters. The stickers are handed out to guests.

To build recognition, I proposed keeping the coffee cup at the centre of a small cast of characters. Food drawings, check and halftone patterns support them, rather than giving every illustration equal weight.

From the counter to the bag.

Off screen, the identity moved onto menus, cups, coasters, napkins and kraft packaging.

The hand-drawn illustrations and stickers carry onto the packaging too: stars and beans on the coasters, a cookie on the dessert bags and a baguette on its sleeve.

The playful copy carries through the packaging. Colour choices also had to work on the material: when yellow lacked contrast on the coasters, I recommended darker options.

On set.

The brand carried into photography of the studio, coffee and food, the team in uniform and packaging in hand. Yellow hand-drawn overlays connect the photographs back to the illustration system.

On the feed.

On Instagram the system loosened up: opening nights, a loyalty card, coffee-date calendars, delivery pushes and short reels, all in the same colours and type.

Yellow hand-drawn overlays bring the illustrations into photographs of the space, people and products. Tangerine adds another accent, while the tone stays light and conversational.