Logo Design: The Library

An artisanal, craftsman-like approach to drink preparation from head librarian Joel Whitmore and proprietor James Fowler has swiftly positioned The Library as one of the most respected purveyors of fine spirits and cocktails in the country, despite still being in their first year of opening…

The Library is an unassuming venue, tucked away on the first floor of Fowler’s restaurant. But once up the discreet flight of stairs visitors find themselves in a unique but immediately comfortable space, combining manor house drawing room, speak-easy and public house into the perfect environment to enjoy a quality tipple. Whilst keen to keep things understated and refined, James and Joel nevertheless wanted to give The Library its own identity unique from the restaurant below. So we set about exploring some ideas together, including period details, maps, books, and assorted distillation ephemera.

One thing I kept returning to was the idea of the bar globes. The Library has several of these iconic pieces of library furniture, first made popular in Renaissance Italy during the 16th Century. To me they summed up everything James and Joel were trying to achieve with The Library – discovery, a sense of exploration, a nod to history… That and the fact that they were a handy way of discretely stashing away bottles of your best booze for a sneaky sip in the drawing room.

The final logo takes two forms – a simplified text only version for situations where things need to be kept professional, and the full “ornate” version for those occasions when only the best will do. Keep an eye out for a future post with the various implementations of the brand in situ, but for now take a look at some examples of the logo below.

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