Elliot was a coffee and beer bar on Sværtegade in central Copenhagen, open from eight in the morning until two at night. The brief asked for a high level without the pretension, and a lot of takeaway for the offices around the corner. It needed an identity as personal as the service: warm, specific, made by hand.

So everything was drawn by hand: the wordmark, and a working typeface you could actually write the day’s menu in. The characters came from Martin Sommer, the satirist behind Jeg finder selv ud, who turned out to live two streets away. Instead of one Elliot, he drew a crew. Everyday Copenhageners in scratchy, affectionate line work, printed on cups, bags and the shop windows, so nobody ever thought the man on the cup was the owner.

The system flexed from an espresso cup to a retail bag without tipping into cartoon. Elliot has since poured its last cup. While it lasted, the identity did what identities are for: it made a small shop unmistakable. The coffee did the talking, the cups did the smiling, and nobody mistook it for a chain.