Meg and Ross came to me with an amazing business vision and big plans for their specialty coffee shop — Function Coffee Labs. They had no existing logo or visuals, and were ready to get serious about their branding. They wanted me to craft a logo that would bring their brand to life, attract customers, and build credibility for their new business. Sounds like a tall order, but I'm always up for the challenge and really believe in the power of beautifully strategic branding.
I always enjoy learning about my clients’ businesses and make it a point to really understand their vision for their brand before designing anything. But the process with Meg and Ross reached a whole new level of awesome when I realized I actually fit right into their target audience.
“It was such an amazing experience to watch our brand come to life from nothing.”
— Meg & Ross Nickerson, Function Coffee Labs
The Function Coffee Labs mission is to make specialty coffee knowledge accessible, educating coffee lovers on what makes it so special without all the snobbery. At the time, I was really interested in getting into specialty coffee but had no clue where to start. I had no idea what to order, what I liked, and what all those fancy alternative brew methods were. Meg and Ross to the rescue!
Since we’re all local to Philly, we scheduled an in-person meeting where I presented the brand strategy and stylistic direction. Meanwhile, Meg and Ross introduced me to the magic of specialty coffee and taught me everything they could. I left that meeting excited, enlightened, and heavily caffeinated.
I set out to create a logo that reflected FCL's focus on specialty coffee education, as well as their values of community and mindfulness. The entire process, from discovery to delivery, was an absolute blast and I couldn't be more thrilled to unveil the results. As for Meg and Ross, I'll let them speak to their experience working with me on their branding.
“Melissa was amazing to work with. We were reluctant to invest in our brand, but she assured us it would be worth it and she helped us to understand the significance of working with a branding professional. We couldn’t be happier with the outcome.
The logo design process with Melissa was straightforward, relaxed and quick. We felt that she took the time to truly understand our business and branding goals. We will never forget spending 3 hours with Melissa teaching her all about different coffees, how they are processed and brewed. She was genuinely interested in what we had to say and sharing coffee with her while talking brand strategy was so much fun!
Throughout the 10-week design process, we were excited each week to see what Melissa had created for us. It was such an amazing experience to watch our brand come to life from nothing. She taught us that our brand could appear established and sophisticated even though we are just starting out. Without Melissa’s expertise, we wouldn’t feel proud or excited to paint our logo on the exterior of our building - heck, we’d probably still be wondering what our logo was going to look like even though we’re a month from opening!
We can’t thank Melissa enough for putting a face to our business. We’ll definitely encourage other business owners to utilize Melissa’s services as she is professional, experienced and innovative.”
You can read more about the logo and brand rationale on the case study page in my portfolio. Meanwhile, Function Coffee Labs is on track to open in Philly next month, and I can't wait to see the logo come to life in their space. Philly locals, get ready to find your new favorite coffee spot in Bella Vista. Cheers!
