Chasing Rabbits
Restaurants Brighton
Written by Nico of Restaurants Brighton, 7th September 2024
Good Noise Co-Founder and Director Peter Collingridge talks us through their work on the project:
Chasing Rabbits is the brainchild of coffee enthusiast owners, Matt and Laura Goodman. The concept opened its doors in May 2024 on George Street, Hove and draws inspiration from the light, airy and laid-back, quality focused café culture of Melbourne, Australia.
They knew they wanted to serve incredible coffee, in a beautiful, dog friendly cafe, but looked to us come up with a name for the concept and design a strong visual identity which we could apply throughout the space, in marketing and on the website which would follow later.The first stage in the process was to define the brand positioning.
This meant building a picture of what made the concept unique, who the customers were and how we could build a brand that would connect and resonate with them.
The owner’s objective for the concept was to create a community-centric space where customers could enjoy exceptional coffee in a relaxed, pet friendly environment. They were keen to avoid the somewhat snobby, unfriendly and exclusive feel sometimes found in trendy coffee places, all of which helped to form the foundation for the creative work that followed.
Matt and Laura had a clear vision for the offering and customer experience, as well as some reasonably well-defined ideas for the interior, both having a love of mid-century furniture that they were keen to bring into the space, but they were looking for some support on how to bring the brand to life which is where Good Noise got involved.
They had not yet secured the site but were keen to start working on developing the brand. This was music to our ears as it allows the brand to become the bedrock on which the business can be built which makes for a much more cohesive customer experience.
The next stage was to present our ideas for names and visual identities including a logo, typeface and colour palette etc. We like to present these as a complete idea (name and identity together) with examples of the brand applied to say a website and a shopfront mock-up which makes it easy for our client to envision how the brand will look in the real world.
The owner’s dog, Mac is very much a part of the family, and we loved that he could be the inspiration for the brand which this led us to the idea of the name ‘Chasing Rabbits’.
This is a reference to the funny leg jiggling and tail wagging that dogs sometime do in their sleep, presumably while dreaming of joyfully Chasing Rabbits. The other, more modern meaning of chasing rabbits is to be distracted from what you intended to do like going for a deep dive on YouTube or insta or, this in this case, it might mean getting away from your devices and engaging with the real world by going for a coffee.
We focused on creating a visual identity that reflected the playful and whimsical nature of the name and the welcoming nature of the brand.
As well as a simple but distinctive logo icon and typeface, we also designed a suite of bespoke icons that could be applied for way finding, internal signage and communication.
Good Noise worked closely with the interior designer on the Project,
Crispin Williams of Engaging Interiors to find opportunities to bring the
brand identity into the space.
This led to the idea of designing a mural to span two floors of the building to help entice customers up the staircase to the first floor of the coffee hours
The building’s facia includes a mural on the first floor that depicts the joyful dreams of our sleeping dog.
We also designed an illuminated projecting sign and main exterior and window signage. The client has plans to install an awning on the front of the building which will be done at a later date.
Space has been left for this to be placed under the main sign when they are ready for installation.
The final price of work for us to do was to design and build the website. This was done in two stages: first we designed a ‘coming soon’ holding page that provided recruitment contact information and opening dates.
Once the café was open, we set live the full website which was designed to be easy to navigate and to showcase the elements that make Chasing Rabbits so special.
It was a privilege for us to work on a project that so perfectly aligned with our passion for creating memorable brand experiences. We really connected with the owner’s vision to create a unique space, and we loved that they took time to labour over every detail. The results of which are evident throughout Chasing Rabbits.
An added bonus was that we got to enjoy a fair amount of Matt’s incredible coffee along the way. If you haven’t tried it yet, then we strongly recommend that you do!
Matt Goodman, Chasing Rabbits Owner said:
“Chasing Rabbits is a space where we want people to feel welcome, relaxed, inspired and connected to the community and Good Noise has done an incredible job in capturing that spirit through the brand identity. They were with us from the very start of the project and continue to support us past the opening and into the operational phase of the brand”
Good Noise provided end to end branding and design services which included Brand Positioning/Strategy, Concept Naming, Visual Identity, Signage, Mural Design, Print and Web Design
Photography by Fabrizio Oppes