Benugo Book
Benugo asked us to mark their 21st birthday by designing a celebratory book. As well as documenting the story so far, our idea was to demonstrate that there is far more to Benugo than meets the eye – the vast majority of their business is conducted anonymously within some of the world’s most respected cultural institutions and corporate organisations. The book’s outer appearance echoes the understated, classic style of Benugo’s iconic black coffee cup but opens to reveal a vibrant compendium of imagery and features that showcase the true, often hidden, variety of Benugo’s business.
COPYWRITING / illustration / PHOTOGRAPHY / print / food and drink
Photography
Benugo already had an extensive library of photographs showing venues and dishes in a conventional way. We wanted to delve deeper: to capture genuine character and spirit in street-style photographs of faces, spaces and places – real customers and employees engaged in everyday activities. Throughout the book our grittier, urban shots perfectly juxtapose Benugo’s more clinical imagery.
“At Benugo we don’t usually boast about our success, but to celebrate 21 years in business we did want to do a bit of trumpet blowing. Mascot helped us do much more than that – the book they designed is like a fanfare – with bells and whistles! Their eye for photography and their creative ideas for special features to celebrate all things Benugo resulted in a book that perfectly captures the history, culture and spirit of our business. We’re very proud of it.”
— Ben Warner, Founder
Culture
Benugo operates cafés and restaurants in some very astute arts venues: The British Museum, the V&A and the British Film Institute to name just a few. To allude to this cultural affinity we created a ‘Benugo Culture’ feature in which six of the arts are represented with a Benugo theme – one in each section of the book. Ben and Hugo Warner founded the business, hence Warner Brothers records with a coffee theme represent music.
Infographics
To bring the presentation of various facts and figures to life, we created animated spreads of colourful infographics, illustrations and lively typography.
Benugo heroes
Over the course of 21 years, some aspects of Benugo such as the black cup and the New Yorker sandwich have gained almost legendary status. We decided that this elite group should each be given proper adulation with its own graphically striking black and white page.
Recipes
Each section of the book features a favourite Benugo recipe. We art directed the sumptuous food photography which, coupled with our line illustrations of ingredients, gives these spreads a distinctive style.
