Branding · Chai Theory Café
Chai Theory Rebrand
A loud, hand-stamped identity for a Guwahati tea bar, from a pinwheel logomark to cups, menus and shopfront signage.
01Overview
Ten rupees of tea deserved a million-rupee look.
02Problem
Chai Theory had great tea and zero recognition. The old logo was clip-art, every outlet printed its own menus, and nothing looked the same twice.
03Process
The brief was one word: noticeable. I started on paper — forty-odd pinwheel and cup sketches — because the mark had to survive a rubber stamp, a cheap inkjet and a 1080×1080 reel.
- Built the logomark on a strict 24-unit grid so it stays crisp at 16px and on a shopfront.
- Picked one loud orange and one near-black so outlets can print with two inks.
- Designed a stamp kit so staff can brand cups by hand; the imperfection became the identity.
- Animated the mark as a 2-second sting for reels and in-store screens.
Everything shipped as a one-page guideline that a local printer could follow without me in the room.
↔Before vs after
04Result
A single, ownable system that a local printer can reproduce on a budget, plus a mark that works stamped on a paper cup or animated on Instagram.
- Instagram follower growth in 8 weeks
- 3×
- Consistent system across 4 outlets
- 1