Above: Menus (front cover and sample inside page)
Business card (obverse & reverse)
Note: You are not at liberty to borrow any of this content for your own purposes or for a third party without my permission.
Full Disclosure: I went to Ex Libris a whopping
once during my four years at the University. The cafe itself was not particularly memorable, which is a darn shame when you think about its location (read: The bloody
Reg). Given its context, I think that a visual identity overhaul that references its context/surrounding architecture will be part of any large-scale enterprise to improve said establishment's presence and prominence. The goal would be to make Ex Libris a more formal sit-down establishment, a cafe designed for extended stays that would also appeal to new customers who are more familiar with the Reg than its resident cafe.
Having said this, let's begin with the logo, which acknowledges the Reg's shape and texture, as well as the books housed therein and the name of the cafe itself through the thick "hatching" and a simple directional contrast that lends the impression of a cube/rectangular prism extruding out from a surface (the thick hatch marks were also designed to resemble books' spines). The logo can be extended through patterning, and can serve as the basis of a more elaborate but modular system. It can also be used to "frame" photos or other artwork, thereby making it dynamic.
Materials-wise, the business cards and the cover of the menu would be printed on heavy cover paper (or debossed with the logo foil-stamped or UV-coated if budget constraints permit). The menu covers would form a heavy folder (heavy cover stock laminated over board stock?), which in turn serves as an affordance for the inside pages, printed on light satin A4, this time without varnishing or UV-coating.
I plan on extending this brand into a holistic system (always a fun exercise), so chances are you'll see some designs for signage/environmental work down the road.
