Brand Identity Design: Mapping City Culture Through Coffee

This campaign uses Tim Hortons' coffee as a medium to translate urban landscapes into visual assets through a comprehensive brand identity design. It transforms a global beverage staple into a vessel for local storytelling by linking city-specific symbols with seasonal color palettes and vintage iconography.

A circular logo from 1964 undergoes a transformation, evolving from its original form into a new vintage-style heritage symbol that emphasizes the brand's long history in Ontario. studio le_m reinterprets this established legacy to anchor a much larger campaign for Tim Hortons focused on Canadian metropolitan life. Instead of relying solely on standard corporate guidelines, the studio builds an entire system around city-specific symbols for Montreal, Vancouver, and Toronto. This approach moves away from generic coffee branding toward a localized experience that reflects architecture and atmosphere through graphic shapes.

Expanding brand identity design into cities

The visual language relies on distinct color systems to separate the three target locations while maintaining a unified structure. Red represents Montreal's historical heritage, green denotes the eco-friendly urban environment of Vancouver, and coral captures the dynamic energy found in Toronto. These specific shades are applied across key visuals and product packaging to ensure each Tim Hortons drink feels like a representative piece of its respective city. By pairing these colors with new symbol assets, the studio ensures that even a simple cup of coffee becomes an entry point for experiencing regional culture.

studio le_m extends this system into large-scale applications such as outdoor billboards and street graphics to reinforce the brand's presence in public spaces. The campaign integrates these city symbols with key visuals, creating a consistent experience that connects 60 years of heritage with modern urban life. By utilizing handwriting elements and specific textures, it creates a human connection within the bustling cityscapes.