September Café & Cake, Saigon

September Café & Cake is a Saigon-based coffee shop established in 2019. Expansion to a second shop in town brought the challenge of how to find a mutual voice and establish a tighter DNA between the two branches (and others in the near future). The café owners were looking for a new sense of purity and tenderness, intertwined with an already existing interior design. The rebrand needed to serve the image in a clearer and synchronised way that was obvious across a variety of media, promotional campaigns, and in-person coffee shop experiences.

Guided by visuals of the interior, the Autumn season was delicately chosen as the main concept, underpinned by “the fall breeze — a season filled with secrets and unspoken things of that slight, yet mesmerising wind.”

The palette originates from various stages of the fall’s cozy colours, with orange-ish tones at its base. Consequently, those selectively picked colours with low saturation generate a touch of dreaminess in every detail.

Opposite to the idea of “from-sketches-to-manifestations,” the brand’s visual core is based upon the interior design of the first coffee shop. Inspired by those oddly oval windows, the visuals and typography come to the fore when everything is observed through the tiny window shapes, surrounded by watercolour-like, autumnal elements.

With its curves and rich shapes, Recoleta was chosen as the main font to deliver feelings of comfort with a slight girl-ish aspect. Supported by Brocha and Libre Baskerville as secondary fonts, the combination conveys a certain warmth that September Café & Cake intends to deliver to customers.

The symbol is based on the interaction of two different windows, as if two individuals are leaning on each other, supporting each other. This minimal yet playful mark imparts the traits of the coffee shop and heightens the sense of comfort.

The reflections of sunshine and the shadows cast through the café windows served as inspiration for the packaging design, creating little portals of sunlight that rested gently over the cake inside. It’s a way to delicately retain the same message and impression of September Café & Cake interior, except at a tiny scale.

In the fall breeze of nature, September Café & Cake comes to life as a welcoming shelter — “Where secrets are shared and remained within.”

Font: Recoleta, Latinotype
Sub-font: Brocha, Latinotype
Sub-font: Libre Baskerville, Impallari Type
Interior design: Red5

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