mightymo

Mighty Missouri Coffee Co.

Goal

Create an easily recognizable icon for a coffee company that represents adventure and comfort. It needs to look good on its own and be simple enough to be reproduced in one color so it can be placed on any medium necessary.

Competition ranges from future local organic coffee companies all the way to Starbucks, as the coffee is sold in grocery as well as smaller venues leaving it to compete with more than just local and small batch companies.
Whatever the mark is it needs to speak to the river it’s named after and the times had around it. Some thoughts were a fish (not good for coffee) a mermaid from a local legend (Starbucks did it) and the current bird (looks too reminiscent of Hollister. Need another option.) The feeling behind the company is great moments in life, adventure, great conversation, and a rugged North Dakota style seen in Mighty Missouri's store (using wood to build tables.)

Sketching and research

I started looking into the competition in town as well as competition in the grocery store. One thing I noticed is, Mighty Missouri was already sitting pretty good. The bold lettering was a nice choice to set it apart from competitors but what was brilliant about it was the round corners on the type. This already set your buyers at ease and talked to the comfort side of your brand. So I really wasn't too worried about the type. I did change it a bit but I discuss that later. the sketching and research phase was all dedicated to the mascot.

I tried many things, a cabin, the river, a camp fire, a bird with goggles, a percolator, and even human mascots... but I just couldn't ignore what mighty Missouri already had going for it. the tern is an awesome idea. it yells adventure! Besides that fact it also holds brand equity we shouldn't ignore.

Don't worry it's not this thing

I did not get it right the first time. I tried a few different styles. "Mono line," "cute" and a few others. but the only one that made sense was "regal". It is just so strong

why he stands

When a tern flys, he does a remarkable thing... but it for sure doesn't look comfortable

He spreads out in such beautiful poses, and is clearly different from any other bird. The bad part is this, there are three basic shapes when designing a good mascot. Triangles, Squares, and Circles. and this guy has triangles written all over him.

Triangles represent uncertainty, edgyness, unpredictibility, speed, energy
Squares say much the opposite. Predictable, sturdy, solid
and the circle brings in the lovey, cozy, friendly aspect (like your round corners in your type)

Mighty Missouri stands for Adventure... but it also very heavily stands for comfort. this means we need to balance the edges of the triangle with more soft curves and to do that we have him standing. this eliminates one or two triangles already. It also slows the energy of a bird in flight. Put all this in a circle and we have a balanced mark for an evenly balanced coffee company.

Color

The colors of Dark Chocolate and caramel is of course one of the most comforting combos of all time. This set is a bit less bright and I could also see the accent colors currently used, red and oranges working with this color scheme well.

Responsive logo

A circle logo can be cumbersome. at times it is tough to design around, and it doesn't fit at the top of your website as well as other shapes. So I want to say, we will have a few variations for you to choose from that will all be set with brand in mind.

How it looks

It's always important for people to be able to see the logo how it will look in the wild. I like to mock it up on a couple important objects to give a good idea of something tangible.

And of course it needs to look good on a shirt!
ok so while I was finding a mark for Mighty Missouri Coffee. I stumbled on something I just couldn't toss! this design was one of my favorites from the sketch phase but it just didn't fit as a logo..... buuuuut it could make a killer shirt design.

The Second Option

after taking a look at the first logo, we decided we wanted something a bit closer to the original mark while still holding onto the goal of keeping it away from the Hollister mark. below is a second option that will not get mistaken for a couple key reasons. It is short and it is fat. this mark would take some getting used to but I do believe it is a strong mark.