Marriott Hotels, Press Release Coffee + Food

Naming | Brand Identity | Signage

The output of our brand positioning activities indicated that the logo design needed to convey warmth and a sense of craft, so we opted for a hand-drawn approach.
Press Release Coffee + Food launched in May 2019 in the Downtown Portland Marriott, garnered positive reviews, and continues to thrive today.

I partnered with Marriott executives and their marketing and F&B development teams to lead a brand workshop and generate names for Marriott’s new cafe in Downtown Portland.

We established craft and locality as brand pillars and identified warmth and discovery as key to the customer experience. We weighed the benefits of reinforcing the location's "Purely Portland" positioning and explored the possibility of relating the name to "Proof Reader Whiskey + Kitchen," the existing dining venue. Ultimately, Marriott embraced "Press Release Coffee + Food," as it relates to the process of pressing the beans to release the flavor and fits into the current naming architecture.

Designing the brand identity.

We designed the brand identity in consideration of the striking walnut, steel, and tile interior. The hand-drawn lettering of the logo and mark adds warmth and a sense of craft — aligning the in-cafe experience with the brand characteristics.