Roadtrippers’ headquarters is located in the former Crown Brewing Co. building in the historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. It lay dormant for many years until James and Tatiana, the founders of Roadtrippers, transformed the space into an office, apartments, retail, event space, and a soon-to-be bar next door. I worked with James to develop initial brand concepts for this bar, which he wanted to call The Crown, in honor of the brewery and his English heritage.
This first concept is stark black-and-white and features a roughly-drawn crown symbol, meant to contrast the traditional look associated with royalty, the brewery, or the ubiquitous Crown pubs all across the United Kingdom. The Queen City is a little more rebellious and less refined than your average royal.
This second concept is more traditional with some modern touches. The yellow and green from the original Crown Brewing Co. palette get an update with gold and British racing green. Pink, mint, and dark purple round out the rich palette. The crown symbol is modernized and paired with an elegant didone — this concept is all about contrasting styles.
The third concept could have been better, but I did create these chimeras based on traditional engravings. James’ plan for the bar was to create a strange, fantastical space with objects and construction materials sourced from his travels across Europe, India, Indonesia, and South America to bring something dramatic and unique to the area, so these seemed like fitting characters for such a space.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of businesses in Cincinnati named after every variation on Crown, so we explored additional name options, one of which was The Lion. For this concept, I explored a flexible design system with various typefaces, again referencing the space's creatively-mismatched nature.