The Goldbar – Mini CD
A speakeasy deserves a brand that keeps its secrets well. When The Goldbar in The Hague approached me for a full identity redesign as part of their venue revamp, the brief was clear: deep glamour, no noise.
The centrepiece is a diamond-shaped emblem that draws from the visual language of Art Deco — intricate line detailing, rivet-like corner accents, and a badge structure that feels like something stamped on a vintage whiskey bottle or lifted from a Prohibition-era supper club. Set within it, a high-contrast serif wordmark carries both authority and warmth. The address, "Noordeinde 33," is set in refined spaced caps below — understated, but there for those who know where to look.
The colour system is built on two values: deep forest green (#0E231F) and muted gold (#BA963A). Together they create a palette that's rich without being flashy — old money, not new. The identity was developed in four logo variants for maximum flexibility across dark, light, and coloured backgrounds, ensuring consistency from print to screen to physical applications.
Speaking of physical: the identity was designed with material finish in mind from the start. Business cards rendered in debossed black-on-black and gold foil on dark card stock show just how much the logo rewards tactile production. The same logic carries through to drinks coasters — a natural touchpoint for a bar — where the gold foil treatment against charcoal board brings the brand right to the table, literally.
The typographic identity page zooms into the "G" in extreme close-up, using the letterform itself as a graphic element. A deliberate choice that shows the typeface has enough character to stand alone, cropped and blown up, without losing its composure. Paired with a 3D render of the same letterform in polished gold, the full range of the brand's expressive potential becomes clear: from flat vector elegance to material luxury.
Clean, controlled, and confident. The Goldbar now looks exactly like the kind of place you'd want to find behind an unmarked door.
