Family Nook
Summary
I hadn’t worked on a branding project in over a decade. But when my brother and his wife started a new business, they asked if I could help with the logo. Rather than letting them settle for AI-generated slop, I designed a brand that felt human, distinctive and built to endure.
Somewhere in the English countryside sits The Family Nook — a play café designed as a retreat for parents and their little ones. On one side, a calm café and health-food bar for tired parents. On the other, a soft-play space for busy little minds. The brand needed to hold both worlds at once.
The space itself is warm, health-conscious and family-friendly. It’s been carefully designed for parents, but not stiff or overly serious. It’s for kids, but without the bright plastic chaos of play centres. This tension between calm and playfulness became the foundation of the identity.
☕ A cosy spaceDirect link
A nook is a small, cosy corner — somewhere safe, contained and inviting. The word immediately conjured images of childhood dens, cubbies and cushion forts. That idea translated into the core brand shape: a rounded nook-like form that feels soft, enclosed and welcoming. These gentle shapes run throughout the identity and interior design — squishy blocks, potato-print shapes and rounded corners — echoing the language of play without tipping into the bright, plastic hello of typical kid’s brands!
👶🏻 Built for kidsDirect link
The space itself has two personalities, so the brand does too. Alongside the calm, parent-focused identity I created a companion brand designed specifically for the children’s play area.
It draws from the same shapes and brand elements, but pushes them into a more playful direction — bright, friendly and expressive, while still clearly belonging to the same family. I also created a little mascot, because why not?
If you're in town, grab a coffee and chuck your kids in soft play for an hour.
Behind the work
- Role
- Freelance
- Date
- 2026
- Photography
- Bee Focused
- Interior Design
- Four Little Pigs
- Art Direction
- Samantha Usborne
- Hardest part…
- The challenge was finding the line — something fun, squishy and fresh, but never childish or tacky. Doing it all remotely didn’t make things easier, working with colours and materials I’d never actually seen in person!
Props to Neil and Liv for the trust and creative freedom, and for allowing me to design some squishy little guys.