PARADOX CAFE - Art Direction: Digital, packaging, eNVIRONMENTAL DESIGN, motion
Paradox Cafe is a conceptual cafe and brand experience where time bends, the space is immersive, and everything is just a little bit weird
01. INSPIRATION
I wondered what life would be like if time didn’t really exist in the way we know it, but rather all at once (shoutout Albert Einstein)...so I built a coffee shop that is a perpetual time portal. Paradox Cafe is an exercise in branding, world building, visual identity, and storytelling. I wanted to create a brand that felt like stepping into a sensory riddle where surrealism meets the concept of time. The moodboard consists of Magritte, Dalí, the space time continuum, antiques, and mixing minimalism with maximalism. All strange, but all intentional.
02. BRAND IDENTITY
*Hover over suite for my initial sketches
Paradox Cafe started as a funky idea that exponentially grew in my sketchbook. There I played with the initial ideas and explorations of not only the logo, but also brand extensions.
Once digital, I leaned into contrast. I used deep blue and gold to ground the surrealism in chicness and minimalist sans serif meets maximalist usage of space. It became sleek with a surrealist and historical underbelly. I made sure to include little details that make you think "wait a second" everywhere you look.
The logo is a typographic paradox in and of itself: a mixture of popular type throughout human existence
03. EXECUTION
Every detail at Paradox Café was crafted to make you question the timeline you’re in. I built out the full brand world across packaging, collateral, a digital teaser video, and even a cafe mockup. The unique details (like stamped objects from each time period, the gallery wall that spans time periods, or the stickers on the to go bags) ensure that no customer's experience will ever be the same, even between trips themself. The final identity leans into intentional chaos: melting clocks, the year 3000, and espresso with a side of existentialism all while maintaining modernity by leaning into today’s trends in hospitality branding.
04. REFLECTION
Maximalism and minimalism can coexist!! You don't have to choose one. I think it can be easy to "label" yourself as a designer who uses one or the other, but here's the thing...with balance and hierarchy at play, there can be room for both depending on the brief. This project also really helped me realize the importance of using scale as a design tool to elevate a concept- something I have been hesitant about in the past.