TaalCafe Branding: a warm, unmistakably Dutch identity

TaalCafe

is a café & community in The Hague where people of different nationalities can come together, feel at home, have fun & practice Dutch

Headquarters

The Hague, NL

Industry

Education & event management

Services

- Visual identity
- Logo design
- Brand guidelines
- Social & print mock-ups

The challenge

Their original name "Dutch Language Cafe" was a mouthful, the old logo overly complex, and every touchpoint (site, print and socials) looked different. The brand didn't tell the story of the warm community behind it - so I set out to redesign it from the ground up.

Solution

A fresh identity under a shorter, friendlier name: TaalCafe. One logo, one palette, one voice - unmistakably Dutch and instantly recognisable across app, social media and print.

A hip new brand & design language

The goal: a brand that feels professional, accessible and unmistakably Dutch - as fun as the events themselves.

'DutchLanguageCafe' was long to say, and the old logo too complex to tell users who they are.

They call themselves a language cafe, and their best-loved event is the Thursday chat over coffee - so the new name 'TaalCafé' (Dutch for 'language café') was hiding in plain sight.

Royal orange and a steaming cup of coffee complete the story: a Dutch language community you can walk right into.

Standardising the brand's look & feel

TaalCafe is friendly and approachable at its core - every piece of communication should feel that way too.

To show how the brand lives in the real world, I mocked up social posts and physical ad campaigns.