Recently, a good friend and past sorority sister of mine, Talisa Cantrell, posted about her vision to start Knoxville's very first cat cafe on a shared social media group. I was so excited and overwhelmed by the idea, I immediately reached out to see how I could help with her wonderful vision. After chatting for a few minutes, she explained the name and her passion for the project, and I was sold.

Talisa then shared a few photos she felt very inspired by; a photo of her beautiful kitty with yellow eyes, and an illustration she enjoyed. I started with a color scheme, and went through several rounds of sketches for the main icon and logo. I kept trying to balance clean and quirky, and ended up with the core cat logo for the brand.

Then I started on the type treatment for the logo. After several tries of different fonts that almost fit the bill, I decided hand lettering would be the best route. I was very inspired by 1960's National Park signs, and the script sometimes included on them. It has a bit of an ode to vintage, and to fauna. I also wanted the feel of a cat's tail, hence the long extensions on the "S" and "Y." 

Of course the famous logo needed to have few recolors in the brand's colors; the classic Midna black, the scruffy's signature pink, and the dark and light teal color swatches as well. These logos can be used across the company's socials and print media as needed.

And just for Talisa, I started on a bit of some print designs as well. I am incredibly excited to move forward with this branding, to make updates, and to continue to build content for her product, website, and content needs. The partners also wanted to include a menu page on the website with their regular snacks and drinks, so we created a printable version of their menu that could be displayed as a downloadable PDF on their website.

To support Talisa's dream (and kitty adoptions!) please visit her GoFundMe at:

Every good cat cafe has killer merch. I worked together with Talisa to think of a few phrases that match the heart of the brand and created these mockups for her to share with her t-shirt printer and other vendors. The inspiration files can be found at the bottom!

After the website and mobile version were finished, it was time to alert the public through their socials. Creating a 9:16 and 1:1 version of each social helps keep the design visible to big time scrollers and the average passerby. Talisa and her partners wanted something really clean and simple, easy to navigate and accessible. I kept the design sleek, utilizing the brand colors and minimal artwork. I also used the recolor cat logos as stickers throughout the website, to keep things light and fun. A major feature of the website is the punchy full color banners for each sub-page.

January 2022 Update:

I've recently partnered with Talisa to create some social media content for the regular events that are at the cafe. She needed some updated promotional material that better fit the branding guide, and I was overjoyed to help!

I created the social media templates for their main social media: Instragram. So each event post got it's own unique texture and style, but in the 1:1 post and 9:16 story format needed for the cafe.

I also wanted to create some more curated merchandise designs, for t-shirts and mugs that Talisa has produced through a business partner!

And that's all for the 2022 update. Looking forward to supporting Talisa and the cafe well into the future, especially now that they have helped over 200 cats and kittens find loving homes!