walking advertisements for coffee shops and we
made some of them eye-catching and memorable
using silver paper material and foil printing.
The silver is balanced with soft pastel colours
for an unusual combination that brings a sense of
freshness to the brand. We wanted to take a risk,
but also keep it visually pleasing. The typography
helped us to generate an aesthetic that was
reminiscent of old alchemy books. Inspired
by lettering used in such books, we created a
logotype that alludes to the ancient practices,
yet is non-traditional and doesn’t feel serious or
outdated. The brand typefaces used for copy are
Ogg Italic and Surt Light.
Elixir’s illustration style also combines
the traditional and the modern. We worked
with different symbols found in alchemy, but
reinterpreted them using vector graphics and
blocks of flat colour. The imagery creates a playful
counterbalance to the rigidity of the copy: the
old and the new, the serious and the fun. All the
illustrations were done in-house by our team.
THE VERDICT
Iván García
Our client on this project was very open and
trusting, and gave us the freedom to bring its
“WE ALL BELIEVE
IN MAGIC A
LITTLE BIT MORE
THAN WE DID AT
THE PROJECT’S
BEGINNING”
THE HOURGLASS ICON
DANIEL MARTINEZ LARSEN TALKS ABOUT
THE THINKING BEHIND ELIXIR’S VERY APT
LOGO DESIGN...
One of the goals in alchemy is to turn a
metal into gold, so we wanted to bring
that aspect into the logo by playing with
a block of gold and turning it into coffee.
For an icon to be unique, it has to be the
synthesis of two or more clear ideas. In
this case, the hourglass is a recurring
symbol in alchemy, and it has a similar
form to a coffee filter. This enabled us to
talk about the coffee-making process and
alchemy, as well as the value of the time
we spend enjoying a cup of coffee on our
own or with the people we care about.
The icon tells the story of
transformation. In their day, alchemists
desperately searched for a way to turn
any metal into gold. The hourglass turns
coffee into precious magic. At Futura we
see branding as a language with different
elements: the logo, copy, illustrations,
colour and so on. Each should be able
to live separately and still communicate
the brand at first glance, without being
repetitive or needing to explain too much.
We think the hourglass achieves this. ABOVEDone in a contemporary
style, Futura’s artworks
were inspired by old
alchemy books.
