Hej Coffee at Excel LondonBrand and environmental design for three coffee outlets and a branded van
Overview
I took the Hej Coffee brand from packaging into physical space, designing the look of three coffee outlets at ExCeL London and a branded Citroën HY van. I led the concept and visuals and worked with the Levy and Excel teams and their suppliers to get it built.
The context
Hej Coffee became Excel London’s coffee supplier after a long tender process, with sustainability at the centre of the offer. Hej supplies coffee within the M25 in reusable 8kg buckets, reducing both carbon emissions and packaging waste. The project was developed shortly after UK Covid restrictions were lifted, while footfall at Excel was still gradually returning to normal. The outlets needed to express those values as well as sell coffee.
My role
I conceptualised each space from the start. I visited the sites, met the on-site teams to understand their needs and the client’s wishes, and photographed the spaces as they were. From those photos I created mock-ups to share with the Levy and Excel teams and their suppliers. After only a few revisions, the finished spaces matched the mock-ups very closely.
The design
The outlets use the brand’s core elements at architectural scale: the Hej logo box, the “Neighbourhood Coffee” script, bold condensed type and the line-art coffee plant.
Wall graphics. In the double-height space, “Coffee, Coffee, Coffee.” is set in huge capitals, with the coffee plant wrapping around the geometric pendant lights.
Wayfinding. A hanging banner, a large HEJ sign and glass vinyls on the balustrade make the outlet visible across the concourse.
The counter. Branded menu screens sit above the hexagonal wood-patterned counter, with the logo and illustration on the wall behind.
The van. Added after the outlets opened, as an extra coffee point outside the venue. I designed the Citroën HY’s livery from the supplier’s template, with plant illustrations along the side and the line “Coffee. Neighbourhood. Sustainability.”
Challenges
Coordinating several teams and suppliers on a tight schedule meant timelines needed constant attention, and clear, early communication was the thing that kept the project moving. The suppliers did a strong job of turning the designs into glass vinyls, banners, menu screens and wall graphics.
The other lesson was scale. The coffee plant illustration was originally drawn for the bags, so enlarging it for wall graphics needed extra care. Next time I’d prepare large-format versions of the artwork up front and brief the production teams on them from the start.
The outcome
The outlets were built to a design very close to the original mock-ups. After they opened, the van was added as a coffee point outside the venue, following Levy’s preference for Hej as a coffee supplier, a good working relationship, and the environmental results they were seeing from the partnership. All the sites remain open today.
