Project Intro

On March 29th 1912 Robert Falcon Scott, who famously grew up in Devonport, wrote the final passage in his diary. With terrible weather conditions and no provisions to last out the storm his ill fated Terra Nova expedition to the South Pole ended with them not only failing to make it to the South Pole first, but also with them failing to make it home.

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The Project

This project, like all of our cafe projects for Shred or Dead Ltd, would take us on a journey of discovery. We had to name it, brand it and then build it. We'd kicked around the idea of doing something related to Robert Falcon Scott for a few years, he's such a prominent figure in the city and people in Plymouth love the outdoors. When we found out that he'd grown up in and around the very location of what used to be The Crown Hotel it seemed too good not to apply it. As with most situations in life, a bike ride led us to the answer - a pedal down to the Scott Memorial in Mount Wise would present us with the words Terra Nova, the name of the ship, the expedition and now a cafe.

"As with most situations in life, a bike ride led us to the answer."

Alongside the name we knew we wanted a powerful icon. Such a prominent building, and Devonport has a really lively populace, so it seemed appropriate to have something watching over us all, an all seeing eye. We wrapped this all up with a hand rendered typeface that was part outdoor vibes but also sat very well alongside the company's other cafes. Final job was the colour palette which was primarily extracted from the building itself, strong heritage colours mixed with a flash of sulphur yellow to wrap something really old with something new and exciting.

The Outcome

On March 29th 2022, exactly 110 years after Scott wrote that last passage, Terra Nova Cafe opened its doors. Things well surprisingly well during the build and we were able to soft open the location ahead of the official opening date. The branding was put into full effect, wrapped onto merchandise, stickers and obviously signage.

What did we deliver on this one?

• Brand story and branding, logo, colour palette and the name
• Fully functioning Shopify e-commerce website
• Merchandise products including stickers, t-shirts and packaging
• Internal and external design, collaborative work with the V&A to gather images
• Internal fit out

Business has been brisk in the first few months and success would be measured initially by response from the local community, whether people reacted and understood the concept and of course became return customers. After a successful launch it became clear that the concept was a success in the local community, we're always worried that these brands will be judged as "gentrification" but the cross section of local customers keen to engage and also existing customers from Shred or Dead's other locations was reassuring.

Next on the list will be expansion of merchandise lines and growth to the Shopify store.

Need help with your next big adventure? Give us a call on 01752 927666 or drop us an email on hello@toze.co.uk for a free consultation and quote.