Mestiza_Estudio built this play cafe brand like a game, fusing aesthetics to appeal to all ages The brand for Canica combines constructivist geometry with expressive illustration, creating a visual world that’s fun but not too childish. When the cafe founders Ruben and Carolina reached out to the Mestiza, they were seeking a design solution that considered adults and children alike – an identity that would capture the attention of two completely different audiences, simultaneously. The team approached the construction of the logo mark quite like they were in a playroom themselves. Treating it as a game, lead designer Maia Loucif set about stress-testing a build of the brand’s name from a very limited set of forms in multiple variations – “I found myself returning to Fanette Mellier’s activity books introducing children to graphic design,” Maia shares. From this constructivist inspiration, the designer drew up reduced alphabets from simple geometric shapes, finding the “essence of each...