Bringing Roastar Coffee Shop to Life!
A collaboration with Roastar Coffee, to help them be seen and draw more customers in.
The Brief
I originally approached Roastar with a window painting opportunity. They kindly took me up on the offer, and had quite a few reasons to need more advertising in their window,
- Roastar coffee’s facade faces the sun most of the day, which makes it difficult to see into the shop and what kind of store it is.
- The shop counter with the coffee machines, pastries and menu’s are all at the back of the store. Even if you look in the window, it’s still tricky for passers by to see at a glance what’s on offer.
- The window does already say ‘coffee’ and ‘coffee roastery’. However, passers by assumed it was a place to buy coffee beans or coffee makers, not realising it is firstly a café!
Process
- After our inital discussion of the project and what the aim for the illustration was, I began taking photos of the windows and elements of the shop to help sketch out my ideas. Taking into account all the customer feedback the shop had gathered on what was unclear about the café.
- Then we had a second meeting for feedback, changes and adjustments.
- Of course, no project is without its challenges. It turns out that, with old windows, and the direction of the windows facing the sun, and having a steamy coffee shop, condensation began to sink and loosen the paint!! 😱 It was sooooooo frustrating. I came back to see my work mangled and peeling off. We took some very deep breaths, and with determination to not let myself and Roastar down, I found a solution. POSCA pens! I’d been painting with acrylic and I think the weight of it and any parts I’d painted with a slightly watery brush were ruined with condensation.
- Despite the HUGE setback, I’m so proud of how the window turned out. ❤️ You can now see clearly all Roastar has to offer. We split the full illustration into 3 sections to cover the windows left to right: Coffee, Community, Café.
The Impact
- More customers! Yay! Now Roastar is clearly visible from the highstreet, people think it’s brand new and are discovering it for the first time.
- Clear communication of what the main offering is from the café.
- Some room for poster advertising still.
- Content for social media posts, and their website.
- We love when illustration can brighten up the highstreet and boost small business!
My Favourite Part
In the end, though challenging, the window painting for Roastar Coffee Shop was a really valuable experience. It’s a great example of how you can really use illustration to explain your business in a easily comprehendable way. It’s proving very effective and really brings light and colour to the front of the shop. Together we’ve put in a lot of creativity, patience and perseverance, and I am proud to have the final result. Here’s to many more colorful collaborations in the future!
If you’re in East Street, Bromley, UK, BR1 – Please go check out Roastar Coffee!!
Extra behind-the-scenes workings…
Their delicious tofu bánh mì lunches, as well as original sketch proposals and the sunken letters!!
Holly Jones Creative 