Blondie Coffe Shop
Food & Beverage
Graphic Design
Various locations, France
2025
Blondie, a fast-growing specialty coffee franchise expanding into high-traffic train stations across France, needed wayfinding and visual communication systems that could work in complex transit environments. We redesigned labels, signage, and physical location graphics to improve information clarity for customers moving through busy stations whilst maintaining the brand's premium, design-forward identity.
Summary
This project demonstrates that good design solves specific problems, not aesthetic ones. By understanding the psychological reality of decision-making under time pressure, we created visual systems that reduced friction between interest and purchase. The same brand that works beautifully in a relaxed Paris café now functions effectively in the entirely different context of transit hubs - proof that strategic design adapts to environment rather than imposing a single solution everywhere.
Challenge
Train stations present unique design challenges. Customers move quickly, often under time pressure. Visual information competes with platform announcements, crowd movement, and navigation stress. Blondie's existing materials worked well in leisurely neighbourhood cafés but weren't optimised for high-velocity transit environments.
The psychological barrier: cognitive load in busy environments dramatically reduces information processing. When commuters can't quickly understand offerings or pricing, they default to familiar chains rather than risk missing their train.
Solutions
This wasn't about making things "look nice" - it was about making split-second decision-making effortless. We redesigned the complete information hierarchy across labels, menu boards, and wayfinding signage for multiple train station locations.
The focus was visual literacy: how quickly can someone moving through space understand what's available, how much it costs, and where to queue? We simplified typography, improved contrast ratios for readability in varying station lighting, and reorganised information architecture to match natural scanning patterns of people in motion.
Each element was tested against the question: "Can a stressed commuter with two minutes before their train understand this instantly?"
Measurable Results
- Redesigned visual systems deployed across multiple French train station locations
- Improved information clarity for high-velocity customer environments
- Maintained brand premium positioning whilst increasing accessibility
- Created scalable design framework for ongoing franchise expansion
