If you’re a Novocastrian, you’re no doubt familiar with Juicy Beans cafe located at Mereweather Beach in Newcastle. If you’re not, Juicy Beans was a kind of institution, with outlets spread throughout the city.

Although the cafe chains were doing well, there was no real meaning to the name and no real consistent look across the brand or the stores. The menu was complex and needed updating.

The busiest store of the lot was located in an old building in Civic called the Fred Ash Building and after stumbling across some old photos one thing that stuck out was an old entrance door painted in a hue of turquoise. The door had weathered over the years and had a lovely distressed wood feel to it. That single thing left over after all these years, became the inspiration for the interior of the cafes and more importantly, the name of the new cafe chain. Above all the cafe chain now had a story and a mantra of ‘Simple, done well.’

Working with The Village of Useful, I created a logo and set out designing what some of the interior elements should look and feel like. Alongside this there was a numerous collateral items to produce such as signage, flyers, cards, stickers, coffee cups, juice bottles, wine labels and a website.