Madras
Kaapi
designing south-indian
authenticity via coffee.
Shilpa & Aditya started Madras Kaapi in 2016. An idea that happened over South Indian brunch and missing Kaapi at home.
toronto's first authentic south-indian filter coffee house
Madras Kaapi Coffee House, Toronto.
870 College St, Toronto, ON M6H 1A3
Role
Brand Creative Director (Copywriting, Art Direction)
Visual Designer - Menus
Madras Kaapi's brand isn't merely to evoke nostalgia to it's consumers through filter coffee.
Madras Kaapi believes in uniting people across cultures and spectrums through a cup of authentic South-Indian filter coffee while maintaining its roots.
Madras Kaapi has a unique style of hand-drawn elements with digital design. The menu in the cafe brings out an authentic hand-written style menu design found in cafes within Southern India.
Existing handwritten menu.
However, the menu was difficult to browse through. I designed one standard menu for customers to browse through items. The Cafe has three main sections:
Drinks
Snacks
Desserts
Structure
The Madras Kaapi logo is surrounded by a Kolam. A Kolam is a form of traditional decorative art that is drawn by using rice flour. It is also drawn using white stone powder, chalk or chalk powder, often along with natural or synthetic colour powders. The tradition of painting kolam is believed to have originated about 5,000 years ago. The kolam has two functions − religious and ornamental. Traditionally, various motifs were drawn on the floor to feed insects with the design made out of edible grains, and the dyes from vegetable colouring. The Kolam is also drawn to welcome Lakshmi, the Goddess of Prosperity, into the home, and drives away the evil spirits. Its secondary purpose is to add aesthetic value to the home.
Process
My idea was to make the menu as inviting, yet as authentic to the brand as possible.
I used Kolams as my inspiration to make a circular menu. I broke down the menu into 3 circular cards. Below are my process illustrations.
Final
Each menu is differentiated with a colour.
The typography is hand manipulated to match the logo.
