03 / Brand identity
01 / VISION
Vision
May5 was envisioned as a luxury café and lifestyle brand where everyday indulgence could feel refined, responsible, and connected to Jaipur. Three principles shaped the brief: elegance in simplicity, sustainable luxury, and cultural relevance expressed through a contemporary lens.
BRAND PILLARS
01
Elegance in simplicity
Celebrate everyday rituals through calm, refined design—premium without feeling ornamental or distant.
02
Sustainable luxury
Pair indulgence with environmental and social responsibility so quality and conscience belong to the same experience.
03
Cultural connection
Translate Jaipur’s heritage through a contemporary visual language instead of relying on literal or expected motifs.
POSITIONING
A premium café and lifestyle brand where modern restraint, responsible choices, and a distinctive Jaipur point of view meet.
02 / PROBLEM & ROLE
Problem & role
May5 needed to enter a competitive luxury café market with a clear point of difference, connect the hospitality experience to a curated lifestyle offer, and express premium quality through one coherent identity. I led the positioning and visual system from concept to guidelines.
CORE CHALLENGES
01
Market positioning
Differentiate May5 in a crowded premium café and lifestyle category without leaning on generic luxury cues.
02
One connected experience
Make the café, curated décor, fashion accessories, and future products feel like parts of one considered brand world.
03
Distinctive and scalable
Create a recognizable identity that could move consistently across signage, menus, packaging, digital touchpoints, and brand guidelines.
MY ROLE & PROCESS
Across one month, I developed the positioning, logo, color and typography system, visual direction, and brand guidelines using Illustrator, Photoshop, and Procreate.
03 / AUDIENCE
Audience
May5 speaks to people who choose places and products as expressions of taste. The audience includes urban professionals, culturally curious luxury visitors, and design-conscious café regulars who value atmosphere, quality, and a strong sense of place.
PRIORITY AUDIENCES
01
Urban professionals
People aged 25–45 looking for a polished setting to meet, pause, work, and enjoy high-quality food and products.
02
Luxury and cultural visitors
Travelers seeking elevated hospitality while experiencing Jaipur through a modern, locally grounded point of view.
03
Design-minded regulars
Aesthetic-led consumers and café enthusiasts who notice ambiance, material quality, presentation, and the details around the product.
SHARED EXPECTATION
Every audience expects credible quality, considered aesthetics, and an experience memorable enough to extend beyond a single café visit.
04 / RESEARCH
Research
To find a defensible position, I combined category and competitor analysis with informal customer conversations and visual synthesis. The research examined how premium cafés signal luxury, where café and lifestyle offers become disconnected, and how Jaipur could inform a contemporary identity.
RESEARCH METHODS
01
Market and trend scan
Reviewed luxury café and lifestyle trends to understand the category’s visual codes, service expectations, and opportunities for May5 to stand apart.
02
Competitor analysis
Studied brands such as One8 across positioning, color, imagery, and messaging to identify familiar patterns and gaps in the premium market.
03
Audience conversations
Informal discussions with potential customers revealed the importance of ambiance, quality, cultural character, and a seamless link between café and retail.
KEY INSIGHT
Many premium competitors looked polished but separated hospitality from lifestyle products. Mood boards translated that gap into one restrained, coherent world for May5.
05 / IDEATION
Ideation
Sketching and typography studies explored elegance through restraint. The selected mark uses clean lines and the Roman numeral V to represent five, creating a minimal but memorable expression of the brand’s refined character.
06 / IDENTITY & PHOTOGRAPHY
Identity & photography
The final identity turns the May5 name into a minimal mark built from clean lines and the Roman numeral V, linking the wordmark directly to five. A blue-led image system extends that clarity into photography, using light, shadow, and close detail to evoke calm, sophistication, and contemporary luxury.
FINAL IDENTITY SYSTEM
01
The May5 mark
Clean linear forms and the Roman numeral V create a minimal, memorable symbol that connects the name to five without overexplaining it.
02
Photography direction
AI-assisted image studies use controlled blue tones, light, shadow, and close detail to express calm, elegance, and modernity.
03
A flexible brand world
Shared color, typography, composition, and image rules keep the café, lifestyle products, and digital applications recognizably May5.
DESIGN OUTCOME
A restrained identity with enough character to feel premium and local, and enough structure to grow across hospitality, retail, and future brand touchpoints.
Photography Style
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