As the city of Portland continues to grow, so do the number of coffee shops as they continue to sprout up all over the city to serve all of the new faces.
One of the more interesting shops to pop up is Queue Coffee–a coffee shop built by the developer of the Q23 apartments in Slabtown.
Their goal was to have a local spot ready for residents of the apartment versus sitting on a vacant space as they waited for someone to sign a commercial lease for the space.
The only reason I knew about this coffee shop is because I read about it prior to its opening. Mixed-used retail/residential is a concept that fascinates me and I often wonder if our efforts in the U.S. will ever be as successful as they are in other countries.
So let’s talk “Queue Coffee”
I definitely appreciate the play on words (Q Apartments /Queue Coffee), but here’s where the designer brain starts picking things apart–like the logo.
The typeface is clean, but does it really say “coffee”, or scream fun? Not in my humble opinion.
The logo is quirky, but doesn’t seem like the most efficient way of getting in and out of a queue (although if the coffee shop was named “Qozy”, I could definitely see this as a representation of saying “Qom in and stay awhile!”.
In fact, when I first saw this logo I immediately thought of the human digestive system and what coffee does to it and noticed an uncanny parallel…
Oof…yeah. Once you see it, it can’t be unseen.
I my next post I’ll discuss a five-minute design solution with a simple logo that addresses vibe, tone, and immediate service/product recognition, AND we’ll even keep the letter Q (that’s a 10-point letter in Scrabble!).
Side note: I’ve done branding for some pretty challenging clients and so this post (as well as the follow-up) are in no way a knock on the designer or Queue Coffee as I’m not privy to all of the creative conversations that took place. Nothing but love for my fellow creatives!