Zen Labs · for ALIEN LAB
I run Zen Labs, a creative agency with more than 20 years of work for large and mid-sized companies. We now bring the same rigour to small businesses, like yours.
Hi Matei! I’m Val, and I run Zen Labs, a creative agency with more than twenty years of work for medium and large companies. Now we bring that same rigour to small businesses like yours. I’ve read your brief: you want more than coffee, an experience created in front of your guests. Quality, not quantity. Ready to start?
Ready to start?
ALIEN LAB · Brand guide · Zen Labs
We kept the idea from your sketch and made it out of coffee.
00The animated logo
Two 8-second animations for Instagram and for the screens at events. The milk is poured into the cup and the leaf settles, becoming the eye in the logo. They start on their own, with no sound.
01In short
The bar, the materials and the texts are restrained: black, grey, fine lines, few words. All the warmth comes from the cup: the crema, the milk, the drawing. That way, the eye always lands on the latte art.
02Colours
All three keep the ALIEN LAB idea, but they tell three different stories. Each has a base colour (about 60% of what we see), a secondary one (about 30%) and an accent (10% at most), used only for “live”, the main button and small details. For each direction there are two real deliverables: the offer PDF the client sends out now and a complete website page.
Specialty coffee and craft
Earth meets the alien experiment: the warmth of freshly roasted coffee, the depth of botanical green and a sharp note of lime create an organic specialty coffee identity that is unconventional and full of life.
Black text on orange, white text on green. Lime only on the button and “live”, with black text. White on orange can't be read at small sizes (3.2:1).
Precision and professionalism
Precision meets performance: graphite lays the foundation of an industrial lab, electric blue brings the futuristic experiment, and signal orange adds the warmth and energy of the coffee craft.
White text on graphite and on blue (5.3:1). Orange only as an accent, with black text; we don't put it on blue (2.2:1).
Experience and show
Coffee from another dimension: deep-space black, electric violet and lab mint create an immersive, futuristic identity that turns live latte art into an almost extraterrestrial show.
White text on black and on violet (6.2:1). Mint only as an accent, with black text.
For printed offers and documents: white-grey background, black text, black buttons. The crema becomes darker (#8E5A26), and the green is not used.
02bWhat the client and the buyers say
We put the three directions in front of two kinds of readers: the owner of ALIEN LAB, as read from the brief, and a panel of 20 simulated buyers from Bucharest. The conclusion is at the end.
“I've been making competition coffee for six years. I don't want to look like a festival food truck, or like a club. I want an HR manager to be able to put me in the presentation for the director without apologising.”
“I like that it's warm and that you see a person laughing with a coffee in hand. But orange across the whole page says fizzy drink, not specialty. At a wedding with white decor, I'm fighting the flowers.”
What we change: if you choose Organic, the orange drops to secondary, and the dark green becomes the base.
“This is me: the machines, the scale, the precision. Except the page sells an espresso machine, not a show. Where are the guests? Where's the moment when someone sees the bear appear in the cup?”
What we change: we keep the graphite and the blue, but the hero shows the barista's hands and the guests, and the machine stays in the background.
“The most ‘alien’ of them all and the best for Instagram. But if I send it to a wedding planner, they'll ask if I DJ too. Violet is for one event, not for the whole brand.”
What we change: violet can stay as a special edition for launches and parties, not the core identity.
20 cumpărători simulați · București
Fiecare persoană a văzut cele trei direcții și a ales una. Nu sunt clienți reali: sunt persoane simulate, construite după cei care cumpără evenimente în București.
12/20
choose Tech Lab
8/20
would request an offer now
| Who | Organic | Tech Lab | Violet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corporate | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Wedding planners | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| Activation agencies | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Fairs and openings | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Private parties | 1 | 1 | 1 |
“Of the three, it's the only one I wouldn't be embarrassed to show my clients: the graphite doesn't fight the decor.”
“My clients want a moment that shows up on phones; a barista doing live latte art is exactly that.”
“It’s the only one that sounds like people, not a machine.”
Almost all of them say the same thing: they don’t see a real event. They want photos with guests and the barista at work, not just a cup on a dark background.
A guide price by number of guests and duration, plus a list of what’s needed on site: power, water, space.
The “club” violet at weddings and corporate events. The “festival” orange next to elegant decor. Tech Lab feeling only “cold”, which is fixed by putting people in the pictures.
The buyers are simulated, not real clients. They’re good at surfacing objections and phrasings we hadn’t thought of, but they don’t predict sales. Their tendency to be polite means the result is a ceiling. Confirm the decision with 3–5 real organisers before printing. The full answers are in research/panel/.
Tech Lab, with people up front.
It wins with corporate clients, weddings and fairs, meaning the people who book most often. It lacks warmth, so the hero and the photos show the barista and the guests, and the Wendougee machines become the proof, not the subject. Violet can stay as a campaign for launches and parties.
03Fonts
We use three fonts: one for headings, one for body text and one for numbers and small labels. Below is the proposed option (A). Two more options, B and C, are in the appendix.
For headings and large numbers. Modern, a little technical.
For paragraphs, forms, offers. Easy to read.
For numbers, units and small labels, always in capitals.
04Shapes and spacing
Buttons, cards and frames have almost square corners. We save the circle for the cup: round-cropped photos, the logo and the “live” dot. Spacing between elements is in multiples of 8 pixels, so everything looks settled.
05Logo
The logo is a cup seen from above, with a milk leaf poured at an angle. To a barista it’s the leaf every pattern starts with; to everyone else, an eye looking at you from the cup. That’s where “alien” comes from. The name is drawn specially for ALIEN LAB, not typed in an ordinary font. Other logo options are in the appendix.
The symbol
The full logo, horizontal
The cup and the leaf. The circle is the rim of the cup. The milk leaf is tilted and slightly off-centre, so the eye looks alive.
The letter A. It has no crossbar. In its place is a drop of milk, like the dot a barista sometimes pours next to the pattern.
The letter I. It has a small notch at the top, like the fill-line mark on a milk jug.
White on black · main
Black on white · print
Accent colour · cups, bags
Outline only
Coloured in the accent
Squashed or stretched
Eye rotated
06The story
The ALIEN LAB story, in six steps, as it appears in the bar’s presentation.
01The experience
A premium coffee bar at your event, and a chance for your guests to discover specialty coffee and the craft of making it.
02The barista
Many competition entries and results. SCA (Specialty Coffee Association) member. Semi-finalist at the National Latte Art Championship.
03The show
Guests watch every drink take shape through technique, precision and creativity: an eagle, a bear, a winged horse, drawn on the spot.
04The machines
Wendougee SDragon espresso machine, Wendougee RKOne grinder, MHW-3BOMBER accessories. The coffee is weighed to two tenths of a gram, and temperature is controlled separately for coffee and for steam.
05Coffee and milk
Coffee from local roasters, scoring SCA 80+, chosen to your taste or on our recommendation. Olympus Barista 3.7%, Napolact Barista 4.1%, Bardezzi 3.5% or premium plant-based milk.
06Your event
Weddings and christenings, corporate events, launches, birthdays, fairs, openings. In Bucharest and surroundings. Tell us the date, the venue, the duration and how many guests you expect.
Request an offer07The barista
ALIEN LAB has no face. The barista appears with neither name nor face: the cup, the hands and the results do the talking. The mystery sparks curiosity, and the proof is in what every guest receives. We only write what is true and verifiable, without saying who it is.
Barista · ALIEN LAB
A few of his patterns
Specialty coffee barista · 6 years · SCA member · Semi-finalist at the National Latte Art Championship. Live latte art at events, with ALIEN LAB.
The ALIEN LAB bar is run by a barista with 6 years of experience, an SCA member and semi-finalist at the National Latte Art Championship. Every coffee is made on the spot, on Wendougee machines, and guests watch it take shape.
“The coffee is from a Bucharest roastery, with over 80 SCA points. The grinder weighs it to two tenths of a gram. What would you like me to draw?”
08Machines
Wendougee makes machines designed for control. For guests, that means the same taste in the first and the last coffee of the evening. The figures below are from the manufacturer’s official specifications.
RKOne grinder · built-in scale
The grinder weighs the coffee as it grinds, accurate to two tenths of a gram. Every espresso starts from the same dose, from the first guest to the last.
One for coffee, one for steam, each at its own temperature. When we steam the milk, the coffee doesn’t suffer.
The group head holds its temperature from one coffee to the next, even when there’s a queue at the bar.
The coffee is gently wetted before extraction, so it flows evenly. Everything is set from the touchscreen.
64 or 90 mm flat burrs, depending on the model. The grinder recognises the portafilter and grinds the right dose.
Sources: shop.wendougee.com, wendougeeusa.com · exact models used by the bar to be confirmed
No sound, so you can add music directly in Instagram. The four shots are also separate files, ready to edit.
Images generated starting from the official Wendougee photos. The comparison with the official photos is in the appendix (A7).
A few independent reviews of the machines. One click opens the video here, in two iPhones laid out like a passport: on the left the one you picked, on the right you can put another alongside it. They start right at the part about control and precision. We can’t use them in ALIEN LAB ads without the authors’ consent.
Starts at 2:00 · YouTubeS-Dragon Solo, the features (2:00–8:37). Saved profiles, adjustable flow, pre-infusion. Review in Thai.
(opens here, in a window with two phones)
Short video · YouTubeS Dragon and the grinder working together (3:13). Automatic calibration. The grinder in the clip is a different Wendougee model (ARES).
(opens here, in a window with two phones)
Full video · YouTubeRKOne 64B at work (17 min). Dosing by weight and automatic calibration. Long video, no chapters.
(opens here, in a window with two phones)
Short · YouTubeRKONE 90B, quick test. Grinding one dose, against the clock.
(opens here, in a window with two phones)09Photos
The photos show the barista's real drawings. Each photo gets the light that suits it: Evening for the eagle and the winged horse, Film for the moon figure and the bear. The drawing in the cup is the original. All the options are in the appendix.
10Components
The pieces the website, offers and forms are built from. You can try them: the options below can be ticked.
02The show
04Right for
11Examples
Two examples: a printed offer and an Instagram post.
01Premium coffee bar
More than coffee. An experience made in front of your guests.
12How we talk
We talk like someone who knows their craft and doesn't need to shout. We write about coffee, how it's made and what the guests experience. On the site, in offers and on Instagram, everything is in Romanian, except the slogan. Only true things: no made-up figures, prices or clients.
We turn making coffee into a visual show.
The best coffee in the universe!!!
The coffee is weighed to two tenths of a gram. The rest you see in the cup.
Over 1000 events and 100% happy clients.
AAppendix · Options to choose from
All the options are here. Each one has a code. Just tell us the codes you pick, for example “Logo L0, Fonts A, Name N0, Colour Tech Lab, Machines option 1”. In each group we've marked our recommendation, and we adapt the whole guide to your choice.
L1–L3 are generated sketches. We redraw the chosen option cleanly.
More than coffee.
An experience made in front of your guests: specialty coffee and live latte art.
±0.2 g · SCA 80+
Space Grotesk · IBM Plex Sans · IBM Plex MonoMore than coffee.
An experience made in front of your guests: specialty coffee and live latte art.
±0.2 g · SCA 80+
Unbounded · ManropeMore than coffee.
An experience made in front of your guests: specialty coffee and live latte art.
±0.2 g · SCA 80+
Fraunces · Work Sans
N1–N3 are generated sketches; the letters may have small mistakes and get redrawn once you choose.
Why Tech Lab: the graphite and blue go with the black machines and the idea of precision, while the orange, used only as an accent, brings the warmth of coffee. Each direction has a preview site and an offer PDF; you'll find them in the Colours section and in the top bar.
The photos were taken on a phone, in the bar's light: flat shadows, a grainy image, distracting things in the background (another brand's logo, tables, scratches on the steel). They're fine for WhatsApp, but not for a client paying for a premium bar.
Only the light and what's around the cup, in three styles. The images are also almost twice as large, so they work for print too.
The drawing in the cup. It's exactly the one from the original photo, put back after editing. Only its light is matched to the new background.
F1 · THE BAR AT AN EVENTThe whole bar, with guests around it. The images are AI-generated, only as a reference for the photographer.
F2 · THE BARISTA AT WORKThe hands, the milk jug, the cup. A reference for the photographer.
F3 · THE MACHINESUntil the photo shoot, we use images generated from the official Wendougee photos (see A7).
Each generated image sits next to the official photo. Check the shape, the buttons, the screen and the logo. If a detail doesn't match the real machine, we redo that image.
SDragon
RKOne
The full bar
The group head
