A coffee brand that sounds like Lagos
- Client
- Ìlú Coffee Roasters
- Industry
- Food & hospitality
- Location
- Lagos, Nigeria
- Year
- 2024
- Engagement
- Fixed scope
- Duration
- 9 weeks
- Team
- 2 designers, 1 strategist
- Disciplines
- Branding, Graphic design
Overview
Ìlú roasts single-origin Nigerian and East African beans. We named the company, built its identity from a talking-drum rhythm, and designed packaging, signage and a voice that has carried it from one stall to four cafés.
- Cafés opened in 18 months
- 4
- Retail bag sales vs. forecast
- 3×
- Pentawards shortlist
- 1
Ìlú Coffee Roasters
4
Cafés opened in 18 months
Specialty coffee without the imported accent.
Most premium coffee brands in Lagos borrow the visual language of Melbourne or Brooklyn. Kemi wanted the opposite: something unmistakably from here, that would sit just as comfortably on a shelf in London.
Ìlú means both town and drum in Yoruba. The talking drum carries messages across a town; the brand would do the same.
Colour
5 coloursTypography
Archivo ExpandedABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
ẸẹỌọṢṣ ÀàÁáÈèÉéÌìÍíÙùÚú
0123456789 ₦ & ( ) —
A wide grotesque with full Yoruba diacritic support, so the name and every origin is set correctly, always.
In use
The drum-rhythm pattern scales from a 30mm sticker to a three-metre café wall.
Takeaway cup
250g retail bag
Loyalty card
Café signage
“Most studios give you a logo and a PDF. Drams gave us a brand our baristas actually understand and use every single day.”
Fieldnote
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