NOTESANDSPIRITS
a place we and you can call home
NOTES AND SPIRITS WAS ESTABLISHED IN 2014 BY AN EX BARTENDER & DJ. IT WAS BORN OUT OF A DESIRE TO CREATE SOMETHING OF HIS OWN, A PLACE WHERE HE COULD LISTEN TO HIS OWN MUSIC, DRINK HIS OWN BOOZE AND MEET PEOPLE WHO SHARE THE SAME PASSION AS HIM.
A PLACE HE COULD CALL HOME — A PLACE EVERYONE WHO VISITED IT COULD CALL HOME — A PLACE WHICH EVENTUALLY TURNED OUT TO FEEL LIKE HOME TO A LARGE GROUP OF PEOPLE.
RIGHT BEFORE THE BAR TURNED TEN YEARS OLD, ITS SHUT ITS DOORS AND UNDERGOES A HUGE RENOVATION, REBRAND AND REPOSITION PROCESS, AS THE WHOLE TEAM FELT IT HAD A LOT MORE TO OFFER.
GOING THROUGH THE ARCHIVES, REDESIGNING THE BRAND, FINALIZING THE END RESULT
Re-imagining the bar was - to date - one of the most difficult tasks that the whole team had to go through, as ten years of existence made decision-taking and inspiration flashes difficult.
Getting a clear brief from Christos was a challenge, as he humorously blamed it on his ADHD diagnosis. His chaotic yet structured attempts to brief both graphic designer and interior architect were the perfect spark for the project’s branding identity, as that chaos gets translated into the bar’s image.
Going through old notes, unscrambling a perfectly scrambled idea.
“HOME” was the perfect trigger word for selecting the materials of the interior: rough textured walls, the classic pebble floor, dark rusted terracotta, wood and the original Cypriot stone — all materials used in old houses found all around the island.
TEXT STRAIGHT FROM the GRAPHIC DESIGNER
The design process for the branding was in simple words SLOW and HECTIC, as the first problem appearing was: DESIGNING FOR WHAT?
Christos’ ADHD couldn’t help him make a clear decision from the get-go: What is this place called? He wanted to keep Notes And Spirits, but then he wanted to drop “And Spirits” completely, leaving just NOTES. This dilemma was going on for weeks, so I decided to make an executive decision and merge both his ADHD and indecisiveness into the logo, keeping both dilemmas on the table: it’s both NOTES and NOTES AND SPIRITS.
Moving on to the description: He wanted to keep the “bar” from the previous “label and bar”, but he was also keen on “feel-good eatery”, and then he liked “local music joint” and a million other options. So I acted just like I did with the logotype, and used every single option he gave me, and then added some more.
The fonts used - similar to those to our sister bar @Ukiyo Listening Bar - but in capitals. Both identities have similarities, since we want to highlight that the same bold people are behind them both, following the same minimal yet complicated guidelines, believing in quality, simplicity and authenticity.