The project objective was to design a small business based on a pop-up shop structure. To spark creative solutions under the rapid urbanization situation, and to test the concept of “less is more”, the provided size of the space was limited to two 20-feet shipping containers.

Since my sophomore year of college, I have been developing the concept for a themed cafe. Finally, I got the chance. I went into 3 fields of design for this business, which each take care of a specific aspect of the business needs. They are divided into House Structure & Exterior, Branding, and Interior.

Project Profile

Dates: March - May 2019

Duration: 6 weeks

Design Keywords: Branding, Concept design, Prototyping, Spatial, Furniture

Project Background:

Challenge:

Café & Bar

Once I decided on creating a Café, I started brainstorming the functions and potential audience. Then, I collected some secondary research on existing cafes and made a mood board as my inspiration.

I realized that many cafes utilize huge glass windows/walls for connecting both indoor and outdoor seatings, as well as giving customers the option to enjoy outdoor sights. I appreciate the sliding window walls that allow people to sit by the window sides and enjoy a micro-environment of half-inside and half-outside.

While searching for cafes, I also found various styles of bars. I was especially impressed by the glow-in-the-dark drinks and the starry-sky ceiling idea made out of optical fiber lights installed inside the ceiling structure. The lightning of the space usually plays a huge role in creating the atmosphere.

Calico Branding

By researching several existing café brands and related fields, I decided on potential color schemes, goals and themes, as well as initial logo ideas based on my primary concepts. Then, I started moving into ideation phase and produce iterations of the logo and other brand assets.

I created a pair of characters along with the brand, one represents the Day as a creative painter and the other represents the Night as a energetic musician. The logo was evolved from these two characters.

Bar Set

An innovative feature of my cafe design was the drink stand that fits the themes of the brand. It is a sculptural structure in the second-floor balcony area that can serve as a second service counter upstairs during busy times, so people don’t have to go downstairs to order another round.

When I was thinking about what I wanted to design for the interiors, I had a great idea: how about a branded drink stand on the patio?

While thinking about the interior of the cafe and bar, I had the desire to display a mascot in the store for a potential picture spot. In many Asian countries, taking pictures with huge character or mascot sculptures then posting them on social media is very common and becomes even more popular now. For example, Hello Kitty cafe and Sanrio themed cafe in Japan, and Line Friends cafe with Brown bear and Cony bunny at the entrance. I noticed that it has also been brought to western countries and incorporated into some business as well. I consider it as an efficient marketing method since the business gets automatically promoted by customers on social media and words of mouth. Therefore, through this mascot I wanted to bring some of the features and trends in Asian business into the United States. 

Café & Bar

What if a cafe could transform into a bar at night? Since I was attracted by the styles of bars, why don’t I incorporate both? Also, I am very attuned to the passage of time, and have always loved to express various scenes and contrasting vibes of different times of day. For example, the wonderful, ever-changing sunset scene even though it only lasts for less than 10 minutes.

While sketching the Cafe, I decided to make it a two-story building, with a patio at the second floor. The patio could potentially serve as a gallery, a space for events, or other activities. I went on with more detailed designs by using Rhino 3D as my prototyping tool, starting with the basics of a combination of shipping containers for the pop-up structure. I experimented on the 3D model with the features and concepts that I had in my sketch until I arrived at the final prototype.

In order to highlight the transitioning function of the café, I rendered the house model in KeyShot, then visualized two versions of the house structure in Photoshop: during the day and at night.

Inspired by the huge “m” sign for McDonald’s, I figured that it would be beneficial to set up a significant and eye-catching signage on the roof as a “hook” or “landmark” to better promote the business. Thus, I generated an idea of a huge “cat head” that would light up at night. I also utilize the empty space outside the store for more outdoor seating as well as adding a drive-thru service, both of which I consider very important under the COVID situation.

Calico Branding

After getting I decided on my logo and color scheme, I started testing them on actual objects as well as coming up with ideas for brand assets. My intentions include a cafe set of menus and a promotional flyer. With the set logo and prototypes, I created some sketches on how the composition would look like for my deliverable.

Bar set

To better visualize and test the functions of the drink stand, I made three levels of prototypes: a low-fidelity made with paper stock, a mid-fidelity made with cardboard, and a final high-fidelity using Rhino and 3D printers. In each phase along with the increasing fidelity, I started to add more detailed features in it that would improve the product in terms of appearance and function.

Along with the process of making the 3D model, I also added the sliding window for the counter, integrated the part behind the counter into a wine shelf, and incorporated a smart ordering screen on the side of the drink stand. I have always attempted to introduce technology into my design as a way to speed up the flow of services and create a more efficient way of ordering items at the counter.

As the prototype moved to a later stage, I printed the drink stand into a physical model utilizing the Lulzbot Taz 3D printer. After I removed the filler plastic material, I carefully sanded and polished every corner of the printed prototype. Then, I spray-painted the surface, attached a tiny slidable door behind the counter, and filled the dike on the counter with hot glue and blue paint to show a translucent drink gutter. I also filled the “paw” on the side with hot glue to represent that there is a smart ordering screen installed in it.