Suzakuken is an upcoming Japanese tea school based in Nagoya, Japan that teaches the art of ceremonial preparation and presentation of matcha or powdered green tea taught by professional tea masters. This new identity was designed for the school that helps position the brand's unique tea master-driven model as it wishes to expand across the country.
The Suzakuken brand identity answers several challenges. The Suzakuken name has a great reputation that has developed over the years but does not accurately convey the art, which is beyond making and presenting tea and includes dress code, procedure and stance. The identity also needed to appeal to international audiences that would allow people from different parts of the world to identify the brand.
An iconic and instantly memorable logo was designed - a distinctive circle that represents a bowl in which the powdered tea or matcha is kept, and the triangle denotes the wooden whisk which is used to mix the ingredients together.
The circle and triangle can appear on their own as a symbol, or accompanied by the wordmark, which is Minion Variable Concept Regular (typeface). The use of Serif font establishes the feeling of tradition and culture that's been practised for decades since ancient times combined with the modern use of shapes (circle and triangle) to represent the art.
