NOCTÉ

A quiet identity for a 32-seat bar that never wanted a sign.

Sector
Wine & Spirits
Location
Vienna
Year
2024
Scope
Identity | Menus | Signage | Website | Launch
01 / Brief

How does a bar behind an unmarked door get found by the right people, and only them?

A seasonal menu, a bar team with real craft and a door nobody could find. Reservations came by phone; walk-ins waited outside in the cold.

02 / Strategy
Audience

Locals and hotel guests in the first district, after dinner, in twos and fours.

Position

A salon, not a club. The menu changes four times a year; the room never raises its voice.

Voice

Low, exact, a little dry. Spirits by distillery.

← LoudHushed →↑ Cocktail list↓ Seasonal menu
Hotel bars
Speakeasy chains
Wine bars
Kaffeehäuser
NOCTÉ
Positioning: where NOCTÉ sits among the alternatives its clients already know.
Green velvet
Candlelight
Smoked brass
Black cherry
Moodboard: the materials the identity is built from.
03 / Identity
Crescent the hour after dinnerWeight heavier on the right, where the light fallsSize small enough for a matchbox
NOCTÉRoute B · set aside
A cocktail glass. Every bar in the city used one, so the door would have said nothing.
NOCTÉ
Italiana, tracked wide; the accent on the É is a small stroke of light.
NOCTÉ
Primary lockup
NOCTÉCocktail Salon · Wien
Stacked, with descriptor
The mark alone, for small sizes
Midnight green#10201C
Walls, menu covers
Candle#EADFC8
Paper, light
Smoked brass#8C7A55
Plate, foil
Black cherry#3A0F1A
Velvet, one accent
Display · ItalianaAaHerbst Nº 3: Marille, Rauch, Wermut.
Text · IBM Plex MonoAaThirty-two seats. Reservations by time slot; the last table is held for walk-ins.
Autumn menu book, clothbound, one per season
Autumn menu book, clothbound, one per season.
Letterpress coasters
Letterpress coasters.
Matchbox, for the candles
Matchbox, for the candles.
Rocks glass, etched with the crescent
Rocks glass, etched with the crescent.
The door, and its brass plate
The door, and its brass plate.
Behind the bar
Behind the bar.
04 / Digital
The site, in use.
Home page.
Home page.
One page, one action.
The booking or enquiry, step by step.
Time slots

Ninety-minute slots ended the queue at the door.

One page per season

Each menu lives on the site, then moves to the archive.

Directions, not a sign

The page tells guests which door to knock on.

05 / Launch

Twelve weeks, timed so the first printed menu opened the autumn season.

Discover
Define
Identity and print
Website
Opening
W1W3W5W7W9W11
  • LiveWebsite with time-slot booking
  • LiveAutumn menu book, printed and online
  • LiveCoasters, matchboxes and table cards
  • LiveEtched glassware
  • LiveA brass plate for the door
  • LiveReservation and reminder emails
  • LivePrivate evening enquiries
  • LiveInstagram under one quiet grid
With us on the project
Identity, print, website
ASFARI
Photography
Interiors photographer
Copywriting DE, EN
Copywriter
Development
Front-end developer
Letterpress
Letterpress printer
Glass etching
Glass engraver
Next project / Fine Dining

TSUKIRO

An identity and a prepaid booking for ten seats, one sitting a night.

View the project

All work

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