How do independent cafes in the UK brand themselves and how do they choose their typography?

Photograph by- Marc Mintel

The Folk Cafe is a small independent cafe located in Bury Saint Edmunds Suffolk. It has a chill atmosphere, covered in plants and fairy lights, they sell a variety of handmade products, coffees and are dog friendly.

Photograph by- Louis Hansel

The font they use in their logo is ‘DIN Next Paneuropean W1G Black’ by Linotype. It is a bold, thick typeface in white with a peach backdrop.

Folk Cafe Logo- Bury St Edmunds (Suffolk)

They also have used other fonts and logos as ‘special additions/ collaborations’ to brand themselves-

In their collaboration with ‘Pomlette’ an illustrator they made a new logo with new typography.

They used the font ‘Ugiftig’ by Bogstav with some paint brush strokes over the black to make it look hand-drawn, making it possible to see the peach background underneath parts of the letters. They used the same font but thinner around the edge if the logo and the peach illustration which is on top of the letters ‘FOLK’.

Special Addition Folk Cafe Logo- Bury St Edmunds (Suffolk)

Another small independent cafe is ‘Jericho Coffee Traders’- Located in central Oxford. They are a ‘warm, laid-back espresso bar serving coffee drinks alongside an array of baked goods & sweets.’

Photograph by- Dan Burton

The font they use in their logo is original but very similar to ‘Fun City Level 2 basic’ by Abstrkt. It has wobbly edges around each letter, giving it the effect that it has been handwritten. It is made of a bold typeface in black with a white background.

The logo is a simple Bird in a large black circle, the edges of the bird on the inside of the circle also curve around making a ‘double’ circle with the words ‘Jericho Coffee Traders’ curving inside of the two. Jericho is in the top half of the circle and ‘coffee traders’ in the bottom half.

The circle and the bird are made to look the same as the typography, with thick black lines with messy edges.

Jericho Coffee Traders Logo (Oxford)

Both of these independent cafes are in different parts of the UK but both have similar relaxed vibes.

Although the logos aren’t similar they both have the same ‘messy’ look that seems to be popular with small independent businesses.