BRAND DEVELOPMENT FOR A CHAIN OF TEAHOUSES
Business owners in the process of launching a rather unusual tea shop contacted Opencore. The guys decided to take a fresh look at the Russian tea tradition and rethink it in a modern format. The place for opening the teahouse was chosen as precisely as possible - Tula.
What was the problem? Various designers struggled to develop a corporate identity for several months before us, but none of them hit the mark. We know that in such situations the problem is often hidden in the wrong formulation of the problem. Therefore, we started not with a logo and corporate identity, but with a brand strategy (in the shortest possible format). We had four weeks for all the work - research, creating a strategy, developing a concept and layouts.
We conducted one-on-one interviews with key members of the client's team, took a quick look at the competitive environment and market best practices from around the world, and held a strategic session with the client.
We reviewed all the collected material, described the target groups, value proposition, collected positioning and platform on this strategy. Immediately, together with the client, we came up with the slogan of global positioning. Since then, our brand has had a rapidly built but solid foundation.
We checked all our further movements with the platform. Since then, we evaluated decisions not in terms of “like / dislike”, but in terms of compliance or non-compliance with the strategy.
Then we moved on to visual communications: developing a logo and searching for a corporate identity. Thanks to the laid foundation, we quickly collected references, coordinated it with the client and suggested two variants of the corporate identity.
Both concepts fit exactly into the strategy, but obviously the client should have liked one of them more. It was accepted by the customer - immediately, from the first presentation.
The logo mark was made deliberately simple and indexical: these stylistic decisions resonate with our target audience.
The logo is a modern rethinking of the classics: everything is formed in a new way, but the image is quite familiar. An additional sign with the initials of the owners is a symbol confirming authorship.
When developing the color scheme, they were inspired by Kustodiev: he painted a lot of Russian tea feasts. The names of the flowers are also from there.
In the process of developing corporate graphics, we took into account that the business is small - the owners do not have the opportunity to constantly make new expensive layouts. That's why we've created a signature font-pattern that allows to quickly design any media or make super-cool thematic illustrations. Working with it is a pleasure.
Then we quickly divided all this into a list of layouts necessary for the launch and handed it over to the customer along with a simple guideline, so that all the necessary information on the brand was always ready to be used.
As a bonus, we developed a packaging design concept, which the client immediately launched into production. It turned out great, although we would have worked with it a little more.
We have been working on this project for a long time - since then the concept of the place has changed a bit: now you can drink not only tea, but also the coolest cocktails there. But the brand we developed is alive and well to this day. If you are in Tula, be sure to check it out!
By the way, Ivan Glushkov, the best gastronomic critic of Moscow according to Where to Eat, a columnist for GQ, Esquire, Aeroflot Premium, Kommersant, RBC, The Village, highly appreciated Chaika and even called it “the perfect tea house”.
Well, and most importantly, what I especially like is the message with which "The Chayka" works. Without all these "you can feel as if you are not in Russia in our restaurant." No, they say - we are from Tula, we have a Tula place, without Tula there would be no Russian tea culture, and we will support and develop this culture.
Ivan Glushkov
Gastronomic critic
If you are launching a new business and want to quickly and accurately resolve your branding issue, come to Opencore. We are ready for any challenge.