UESHIMA COFFEE LOUNGE REBRANDING

Ueshima Coffee Lounge has been offering “a moment of refined enjoyment” in daily life while cherishing Japan’s coffeehouse culture that dates back to the early Shōwa period. For this project, which looks toward further domestic and international expansion, we started by explicitly defining the values and beliefs that had previously been shared only implicitly.

The key concept became “shedding.” It represents the brand’s intention to evolve—honoring the culture and quality that have been carefully nurtured over the years, while giving a sense of purpose and inevitability to the changes ahead. This word embodies the desire to progress the brand with a contemporary sensibility, building on its past achievements while moving toward a modern, refined identity.

For this project, we carefully distilled the essence of Ueshima Coffee Lounge’s desired brand identity through multiple workshops. Rather than simply verbalizing a positioning, we reinterpreted the very “touchpoints” between the brand and its customers, resulting in the following mission, values, and concept:
Mission: “STAY TRUE.”
Value: “The Cup, The Moment, A Lifetime.”
Concept: “EVERYDAY RETREAT”


All of these were developed in both Japanese and English, enabling internal alignment and global expansion. By balancing emotional resonance with logical clarity, we strengthened the brand’s credibility and created language that can be used directly externally. These statements capture and articulate what the brand has valued all along, becoming definitive expressions of “What Ueshima Coffee Lounge is.”

The logo was refreshed with careful attention to the long-standing design that customers have cherished. While honoring the president’s deep attachment to certain elements, we minimized changes, refining layout and color details to create a more polished and sophisticated appearance that still conveys a sense of Japanese identity. This subtle evolution reflects the brand’s growth while preserving its beloved essence.

The overall creative guidelines were fully refreshed to ensure a consistent brand experience across stores, the website, and social media. Newly shot visual assets were produced, featuring Dutch photographer Nik van der Giesen to incorporate a European perspective, redefining the café culture visually as an aesthetic that resonates globally.

Using these updated guidelines, the website was the first to be renewed, presenting a world and information structure that allows visitors to truly feel Ueshima Coffee Lounge’s philosophy and intentions. These guidelines will also be applied to store interiors and menus moving forward.

This project went beyond simply refreshing visuals and copy, it was an effort to re-examine the core of the Ueshima Coffee Lounge brand and redefine it both internally and externally.

To achieve this, we engaged in numerous direct discussions with the staff and the CEO. Posing the question: How can Japan’s unique café culture be carried into the future and shared with the world? monopo approached this challenge comprehensively, addressing every aspect of the brand, its language, experiences, and visuals.

Building on this branding initiative, Ueshima Coffee Lounge plans to explore the positive effects of coffee on creativity and productivity at a store in Shizuoka’s experimental city “Woven City,” as well as future overseas expansion. Through these efforts, they aim to offer moments where everyone can enjoy life in their own way.

We hope that this collaboration with Ueshima Coffee Lounge will also help monopo contribute to sharing Japan’s café culture with the world.