'Ms. B. Haven' is a local speakeasy bar of Porto Alegre themed around the world's most famous shipwrecks. The original ship that gave the bar its name was a party boat in my hometown of Porto Alegre, Brazil. It sunk in a heavy storm in 2016 (no one was injured) and the speakeasy was meant to honor the great memories the people of our town have had in that boat. I was asked to create their branding, the menu, and some specific sale items that would help to differentiate the bar in the market.
I'm personally a huge fan of craft cocktail bars and the amazing drinks they create. So I was inspired by some of my favorite bars around the world and the popular speakeasy industry in NYC, home of amazing places such as 'The Dead Rabbit', 'PDT' and 'Death & Co'. Here is the work and concept behind each step of the bar's brand identity:
LOGO
I decided from the get-go that I would create a linear logo for this project; something simple, strong, and refined. The way I like to work with linear art is to start from a very basic line drawing of whatever the concept is — in this case, a boat — and modify it into a second concept, which I decided it should be the letters 'MBH' for the title, with a prominent 'M' and subtle 'B' and 'H' references in the background. I like how some famous speakeasies are known for their initials instead of their actual names, such as New York's P.D.T. (Please Don't Tell), so I aimed for the same effect with this title.
The original line drawing displayed a simple boat floating over water, and that was angled and modified through four more refined concepts until I reached the point I was looking for in the fifth iteration, where I was able to insert the letters 'B' and 'H' into the mark in a subtle and successful way. The boat symbol is still present in the concept, and the 'M' shape is strong and elegant, fitting for a high-end speakeasy and the mystique that goes with it. After finishing the linework I felt that adding a single color would not only be very fitting but would also reinforce the brand identity concept, so I picked a darker ocean green (#00897b) that reminded me of the filter color used on movies whenever they showed a sunken ship with seaweeds and coral reefs growing on them on the deep sea.
I created a custom tall typeface for the abbreviated title, I wanted to have something that would balance with the geometrical characteristic of the mark and yet add a sense of playfulness to the brand without compromising the elegant feel. For the phonetic spelling, I chose my favorite lowercase italic font, Bell MT.
menu
The drink menu was designed based on different visual elements I have seen in some of my favorite craft cocktail bars, such as 'Volstead's Emporium' in Minneapolis, the 'Death & Co' in New York, and 'Bar dos Arcos' in São Paulo. Click to zoom.
The glass design is shown on the left side of the page with a marine green column representing the garnish placement, while the drink description sits in the mid-section. I have always been attracted to nautical flag designs, and it turns out some of them have meanings that would fit a drink description in a very humorous way, tying it all into the bar concept. I categorised every drink according to their alcohol level and translated them into the nautical flag context. Each drink is named after a famous shipwreck or related myth. I was also asked to try each drink and help to create a description for them, which led to some humorous ideas that translate the "shipwreck" thematic to the product itself, maintaining the ambiguity between elegant and cool that we find in these modern speakeasies.
business & information card
Even craft cocktail bars need business cards. This one blends perfectly with the brand's identity, showing the MBH mark in the back over the standard topographic map pattern, which is reflected on the front under two translucent shapes that allow better readability, also differentiating and giving emphasis to the front side. Each employee would have a unique business card, with the same layout but different topographic map patterns.
to go
Something I always missed in cocktail bars is the choice to buy take-out drinks. I have heard that the store would need the same permit as liquor stores have, but why should that be a problem? MBH have its own craft cocktail store, with take out drinks and bitters, as well as kits of DIY minibars that teach how to make some of the house drinks at home.
Many bars sell their own bitter bottles, MBH would follows the same trend — but as bitter bottles tend to last forever, these bottles were designed to be considerably smaller in order to allow customers to try as many different flavors as they wish, and paying a proportionally cheaper price for it.
pattern
The pattern used in the background of all brand items is a nod to topographic maps used for both land and sea. Not two brand items have identical backgrounds, so each menu, business card (for different employees) and table asset has a unique pattern.
This illustration effect is called 'Paper Cut' and it gives the image a sense of depth and continuation. It's created from a posterised texture image in Photoshop, which is exported into Illustrator, traced, expanded, and edited in different layers grouped by color and drop shadow. As you can see below, the process starts in Photoshop in B&W, is imported into Illustrator for color, then drop shadows are added for depth.
