Logo case

An oyster bar that runs on the tide.

Client: Marée, oyster & wine bar
Place: Cancale, Brittany
Scope: Logo, identity, photo direction
Delivered: In one day

01 · Name

marée

/ma.ʁe/ · noun, feminine

The tide, the rise and fall of the sea.
The morning catch, shellfish and fish fresh off the boats.

The tide brings it in.

Two meanings in one word. The mark had to carry both: the rhythm of the sea and what it delivers every morning.

A pearl resting in an open oyster while a drop of lemon falls over it — The pearl, the oyster, one drop of lemon.

One day of tide. The kitchen opens its shells at low water.

02 · Place

Twenty steps from the water.

Marée sits on the quay in Cancale, the oyster capital of Brittany. Tables face the pier, so the mark has to read from the water.

Aerial view of a wooden pier reaching into turquoise sea with a straw parasol at the end — The pier at high water.

03 · Idea

A shell, a ripple, a pearl.

One mark has to say three things at once. Each idea became a move in the drawing.

The shell opens

Nine ribs fan out from a single hinge. Each rib is also a ripple spreading across the water.

The pearl lands

A coral block drops onto the waterline at the hinge. It is the pearl and the last light at low tide.

The plate becomes a seal

A double ring is the rim of a plate and the stamp on a crate of oysters. The lettering turns once, like a tide wheel.

04 · Story

Five shapes we crossed out.

Before the shell, we drew the obvious ones. Each fell for one clear reason.

Wave monogramReads as a water utility.

Closed shell with pearlA stock seafood icon.

Sun over waterSays beach resort, not oyster bar.

FishA fish market, not a bar.

Pearl aloneToo soft. No shell, no table.

Fan shell and coral blockOne shape that stamps, etches and prints.

05 · Drawing

Drawn from one point.

Everything grows from the hinge. The geometry is simple on purpose, so the mark survives a stamp, a glass and a crate.

One axis. A vertical line and a waterline cross at the hinge.
Two circles. A small one for the hinge, a large one for the reach of the ribs.
Nine rays. Spaced 18° apart, a fan of 144°.
Then the shell. Scalloped edges drawn over the rays, one line weight throughout.
Last, the pearl. The coral block sits on the axis, just under the hinge.

Then the name

A high-contrast serif, spaced by hand. Each pair was tightened until the word read as one shape, with the accent cut to echo the shell's edge.

06 · In use

Room to breathe.

Keep half a shell of empty space on every side. Below a certain size the seal gives way to the mark alone.

Small is fine, to a point.

The seal works down to 96 px. Under that, the ring lettering turns to noise, so we drop to the shell.

Seal, 96 px and up

Mark, 72 px

Mark, 36 px

Four ways to wear it

PrimaryNavy on linen.

InverseLinen on navy, for walls and menus.

One colorFor stamps, glass and receipts.

Mark onlyFor small spaces and social.

Four ways not to

Don't stretch it.

Don't recolor the pearl.

Don't tilt it or add shadows.

Don't place it on a busy photo.

07 · Color

Mostly linen, a little coral.

Linen is the base, navy is the ink, and coral shows up only where the eye should land.

60%

#F4EFE6

Sea Linen

Tablecloths, paper, the page.

30%

#0B2A4A

Deep Tide

Lettering, walls, the seal.

10%

#F26B4F

Coral

The pearl.

08 · Applications

Pearl surreal.

Real places with one impossible detail: a table on the seabed, a tower of coupes rising from the quay. The mark appears only where it would be printed, painted or glazed.

A waiter holds a platter of oysters in a navy dining room; the Marée mark is painted on the wall panel above him — Wall. The seal painted in linen on the navy panel.

Oysters on crushed ice on a navy plate with the Marée shell printed on the rim — Plate. The shell printed on the rim.

A tower of champagne coupes on a marble plinth in the dark — Tower. The first round.

A model in a coral dress wearing a headpiece of oyster shells against a blue wall — Crown. Shells as couture.

A table laid with oysters and champagne on the seabed, lit by rays of sun — Seabed. Dinner below the waterline.

A woman in a pearl-beaded dress holds an oyster, harbour behind her, her legs underwater — Marina. Half in, half out of the tide.

Your turn

Your logo, in a day.

Send a name and a few words about the place. ARSORA returns a finished logo within one day.

Order an express logo $490 · one day