&why serves an identity for metta that’s as ready for change as the bakery-cum-community spot itself

More than just a coffee shop and bakery, metta offers a space for the people of Munich to meet, collaborate and engage in workshops. To help capture the experimental spirit of the brand that offers both a community space and perfectly risen gluten-free baked goods (have you seen those pillowy cinnamon buns?), metta collaborated with Berlin and Munich-based design and technology studio &why to craft a visual system that’s as open to change as the space itself.

Almost as if taking notes from the fluffy breads and croissants of metta, &why selected GTF Mycena for the wordmark. The typeface, with its plump letterforms, sets the tone for the brand. “Just as metta’s space offers workshops and evolves to meet the diverse needs of its community, GTF Mycena met our vision for a modular shape system. Inspired by the font, we were able to create a user-friendly system that is flexible to use even for non-designers creating brand materials,” Vera Seibel, who oversees art direction and branding at &why, tells us.

The team created a palette of shapes which brings a level of abstraction to the brand – parts of shapes are sliced and mixed up to create interesting graphic elements as seen in the billboards and on the coffee cups. While the soft corners of the typeface and the shapes add a warm sense of comfort, the functionality of GT Ultra Median, used in the supporting text, brings clarity to the identity.

The highly flexible modular system, as the team points out, promises to adapt and evolve along with metta’s “diverse offerings, including workshops, readings, and yoga lessons,” adds Senior Brand Strategist Daniela Baumann. “Fonts, colours and shape elements form a large ‘toolbox’ that allows the brand to react to the space’s different purposes.” Coloured with a soft rose, yellow, and a rich blue selected as the hero hue, the brand is as ready to grab attention as it is to surprise with its space where you can munch on a croissant, sweat it out in a pilates class, or learn to make your first batch of kombucha in a workshop.

&why