The Story of Joe's
I was approached a year beforehand to create the branding and interiors for a new speciality coffee shop in Dublin. The client had decided on the name 'Joe's' which is a reference to the phrase a 'cup of Joe'. I spent some time looking into the origin of where the phrase 'a cup of Joe' originates and from my research I came across a man named Josephus Daniels. Daniels was appointed by United States President Woodrow Wilson to serve as Secretary of the Navy during World War I. Daniels banned alcohol from United States Navy ships in General Order 99 of 1 June 1914. This led to the folk etymology that "cup of joe" (referring to a cup of coffee) derives from Daniels' name.
Research and Ideas
From my research I gathered images of Josephus Daniels as well as maritime memorabilia that I felt I could build the brand around. It was form the picture below where Daniels is wearing a top hat that I decided I would design the logo from as you can see from the sketches below.
Another interesting part of this project was working with an amazing professinal sign painter named Colm O'Connor and around the same time he was painting Joe's Colin Brady was making a mini film about sign writers in Dublin which you can see below. The film was shown in conjuction with the Sign Painter Movie which is also well worth a watch for anyone who enjoys typography and sign painting.
Thanks for taking the time to view the project.
