Rebus

Coffeeshop Branding — Non-traditional Coffeeshop

About

Branding for Rebus, a coffeehouse that reads as an ordinary café on the surface but operates as a real spiritualist place underneath — the identity had to carry that duality without giving it away outright.

Rebus coffeehouse branding, hero photograph

Challenge

Rebus needed branding that could work as a normal, welcoming coffeeshop on the surface, while carrying an undercurrent of something more esoteric and exclusive — a "real spiritualist place" hiding underneath.

Solution

Technique: Illustrated the identity through linocut printmaking, leaning into its rough, handcrafted texture.
Subject matter: Built a series of scenes — people gathered in a town square, figures at a wharf, a conversation on a ledge, dancers — to give the brand a sense of humanity and place.
Mood: Let the handmade, rustic style carry the ambiguity: welcoming on its face, mysterious underneath.

Process

For the illustrations, I chose linocut — a printmaking technique where the image is physically carved out of a block, then rolled with ink and pressed. That process felt right for Rebus: the picture doesn't just get drawn, it gets dug out, cut away layer by layer until what's hidden underneath the surface is revealed. It's a fitting parallel to the brand itself — an ordinary coffeeshop on the outside, concealing something more conceptual and ritualistic underneath. The rough, imperfect edges linocut leaves behind also gave the identity a handmade, almost underground feel, distancing it from anything slick or corporate and pushing it closer to something secret, personal, and a little unpolished on purpose.

Result

A visual identity that reads as approachable coffeeshop branding at a glance, while its linocut illustrations quietly hint at something more secretive going on beneath the surface.

Rebus branding, linocut illustration applied in context
Hand-carved linocut printing block used to create the Rebus illustrations Rebus poster reading: handmade linocut, carved and printed to express the brand's underground, manufactured-by-hand style
Rebus branding applied to a street poster and flyer collage
Rebus branding printed on a cafe napkin Rebus branding printed on a t-shirt
Rebus menu card design
Rebus linocut illustration, detail photograph Rebus branding, printed application photograph
Rebus coffee cup branding Rebus coffee cup branding, close-up photograph
Rebus enamel pin shaped like praying hands, pinned to fabric Rebus branded matchbox and candle reading: burn the candle to open new chapter