CHAT NOIR

In response to the increasingly competitive café industry, marked by a surge in new market entrants, Chat Noir undertook a comprehensive review of its business in 2015, coinciding with its 50th anniversary. As part of this strategic shift, the company launched a corporate branding initiative alongside the rebranding of its flagship café chain, Caffé Veloce.

The corporate branding programme involved revisiting the company’s core philosophy, developing a new corporate logo, and implementing an internal engagement plan. These efforts were positioned not merely as design updates, but as a strategic transformation aimed at driving change across the entire organisation.

To visually express its new corporate philosophy — “Turning Comfort into Culture” —

Chat Noir revisited its cultural foundations, rooted in the long-standing ambition to bring the rich café culture of Europe into everyday life in Japan. Building upon this legacy, the company established a new corporate vision and introduced a renewed logo and design system that embodies its values and aspirations.
This transformation extended beyond visual identity. The initiative included the development of brand applications and internal tools such as a concept book and employee engagement programmes, all aimed at aligning internal mindset with the new philosophy. The project was strategically positioned as a company-wide change initiative to drive long-term cultural and organisational transformation.

Logo Design Concept:

To embody the company’s ethos of embracing tradition and form while striving for innovation, the logo combines a square — representing tradition and structure — with a circle, symbolising freedom and comfort. The colour silver was chosen to represent the company’s aspiration to continually create something new.