A look at brand growth; Costa Coffee

Name: Costa Coffee
Location: London
Designer: Your Studio


Costa Coffee recently unveiled a new design for their metropolitan stores and the design is clean and fresh. Many of their other locations(this is a chain coffee shop), look like typical coffee shops and while warm, appear a bit dated for todays coffee culture. The new design focuses on use of space, layout and creates areas for multiple customer types. By creating a more industrial and urban feel to the space, they have established a new customer demographic while staying true to their craft. Spaces like these remind us that a well thought through design, with proper space planning and customer experience analysis, can produce a stunning and highly profitable result. Many people forget that a designers job is to ensure the space will fit within its location and demographic, while minting a focus on profitability, correct merchandising and back of house operation flow.  I always encourage clients to remember that their space is more for their customers and less for themselves. While a space needs to reflect the product, it also needs to guarantee profitability and a fully thought out concept. This ensures customers will have a full and memorable experience from the moment they see signage until they walk back out the door.

Costa Coffee is a great example of a company letting their own personal preferences and previous experiences take a back seat to what the area, clients, and times were asking for. Through the design, they have guaranteed a continued support for their craft and a continued profitability for their company.

Costa's more traditional design:


The proposed new design for urban centers:

Photo 1 © SEA Design Group

Photo 2-3 ©  Your Studio