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ELAB
Location
Client: Tokyo, JP
Myself: Toronto, CA
Date
2023 - 2024
Role
Graphic Designer
Responsibility
- Brand Book: Clarified and added new perspective to an existing brand direction, set colour pallets, simple rules for social media posts, and typeface selections and regulations.
- Print Design: Menus, posters, booklets, and in-store marketing collateral.
- Merchandise Design: Branded patches and caps.
- Packaging Design: Canned packaging design.
Link
Problem
- Customers perceive eco-minimal cafes as interchangeable.
- Lack of narrative: sustainability is abstract rather than tangible.
- Circular living concept is unique but under-communicated.
- Without stronger differentiation, ELAB risks losing repeat customers to cafes with stronger storytelling presence.
Solution
- Visual Identity: Move beyond generic eco-palettes by introducing unexpected, energetic tones that bring playfulness and joy to the brand. This helps ELAB feel approachable and memorable, rather than blending into the sea of beige eco-cafes.
- Packaging & In-store Materials: Incorporate mini-stories about ingredient origins, the purpose of the circular cafe, and upcoming workshops. This positions ELAB as a community-driven place.
- Social Media: Build a recognizable “visual rhythm” across posts (templates, colors, type hierarchy), so customers instantly know it’s ELAB in their feed.
- Merchandise: “Everyday Sustainability” design branded items that extend the cafe’s values into daily life.
Merchandise
ELAB’s merchandise was designed as everyday companions:
- Cacao Husk Cans: Reusable and useful
- Branded Patch: Meaningfully personalized
- Branded Cap: Functional & community-driven
Together, they embody the idea of “Everyday Sustainability”, proving that caring for the planet can also mean cherishing small joys in a normal day.
ELAB - A Circular Living Lab is a cafe and community space. ELAB works with local producers, focuses on seasonal and transparent ingredients, and aims to make sustainable living enjoyable, inspiring, and accessible to everyone.
