Pied Cow Coffeehouse is an artifact of what is often referred to as ‘Old Portland.’ This spooky café, eatery, and hookah spot lives in one of SE Portland’s historic Victorian homes, and it has remained unchanged in defiance of being surrounded by rapid urban development. This new visual language gives Pied Cow’s lore and personality life beyond its haunted walls.
A Personal Tie to Pied Cow
Pied Cow was one of very few places open late that we were allowed to be that wasn’t a greasy diner. I was introduced to this funky coffeehouse by a friend whose older sister had started inviting her when they were finally old enough to get along — as was tradition amongst her siblings. This was a tradition that I adopted with my own younger sister who later started meeting there with her friends. I have been marveling at Pied Cow’s effortlessly eclectic interior and consistently comfortable atmosphere for over ten of its thirty years. Somehow, it has managed to stay the same over that time and stay below the radar.
Visibility through existing clientele.
The visual language was developed by incorporating the location’s haunted history through illustrated logo marks. By using black and a slightly-muted yellow, the deliverables are better able to standout against Pied Cow’s comfortably-cluttered interior décor. A focus was put on creating exterior deliverables so that Pied Cow’s doesn’t modernize, but rather subtly advertising through its current regulars.
