Silly Space Cafe Pop-Up
Personal Project
Silly Space Cafe Pop-Up was a personal project I created with the intent of designing and curating a space to share my hobbies with my family & friends.
I worked on this project in phases: creating assets, menu experimentation, design & printing and execution. Upon deciding on a date to host the pop up, the timeline was fairly short. I started with a brand guide to inform a lot of my design & aesthetic choices, I then curated and trial tested a menu making multiple iterations of beverages & pastries and finally, I designed print goods to decorate and hand out with information about the pop-up and as a visual of my process.
An excerpt from the Silly Space Cafe Pop-Up Zine:
“I’ve found myself dabbling in many hobbies, some of which have led me to a career in creative. This so called “dabbling” started from a young age…I would quickly bore you with a list of all the crafts and hobbies I’ve tried in my life but you just so happen to be witnessing the continuation of this very lengthy list. Lucky for you my hobbies have extended into caffeinated beverages and syrups.
I wish to share this moment, Silly Space Cafe, with you.”
Brand Design & Identity
Print Services
Event Planning
Silly Space Cafe Pop-Up was inspired by a blank mini sandwich sign I received as a gift. I designed a cafe “brand” and illustrated some assets to create 2 stickers for the sign, it now sits on my coffee maker everyday.
The Brand Guide was one of the first assets I made when I decided to pursue the pop up. As a designer, it felt like the first step to making informed and intentional design choices (and frankly easier decisions).
I made logo variations with color & shape, decided on color scheme, and font styles and formatting. I then frequently referred back to the guide for photography decisions, print design and even the physical space itself.
Brand Guide
Menu
Upon completion of the brand guide, the menu was the next important asset to develop. I wanted the menu to have a simplistic quality to it, items that would be both easy to craft but also each have an intimate quality about them.
I spent about a week trial testing syrups and pastries until I felt confident in the flavor profiles. I was so proud of the pistachio sauce, in particular, that the recipe was included in my Silly Space Cafe Zine (as seen below) and still something I make for my morning coffee.
The menu then got printed and slotted into the zine as both a memento and, of course, for ordering on the day of.
The Silly ‘Stachio was the most popular beverage, the Brown Sugar Matcha Latte a close 2nd (:
Front & Back Cover Silly Space Cafe - The Zine An 8 Page zine, rounded corners with a printed menu slotted inside. Handed out on the day of the pop-up to set some context and share some of the process details.
Page 2 (Left) - "A Brief Explanation" of what this pop-up means to me, informs why I am creating a designed space and some context of my creative history. Page 3 (Right) - A flat lay image from the photo shoot to obtain assets for the zine & print goods. In the print version of the zine, the grey round logo is physically stamped with a custom rubber logo stamp.
Page 4 & 5 (Full Middle Spread) - The recipe & instructions for the Pistachio Sauce I used for the signature latte of the pop up. Featuring a full bleed image from the photo shoot.
Page 6 (Left) - 4 Polaroid images from the photo shoot arranged on blue checkered paper, later designed into a poster as decor for the pop up. Page 7 (Right) - The brand guide for the Silly Space Cafe Pop Up, shared to inform pop-up decisions and share creative direction.
