Baba Yaga
A bar with mythology in its bones
Baba Yaga is a bar and venue in Pioneer Square, named for the Slavic folkloric figure — ambiguous, ancient, a little unsettling. The brief called for a brand identity that honored that mythology without costuming it, giving the space a visual language that could work across menus, signage, merchandise, and events.
I led brand design in collaboration with illustrator Andrew, who brought the figurative work. My role covered the full identity system: logo development, typographic hierarchy, color language, and the production of the brand identity book.
Dark, but not gimmick-dark
The instinct with a name like Baba Yaga is to go full gothic — all skull motifs and horror-movie type. We went the other direction: restrained, a little worn, referencing Eastern European folk craft and mid-century print rather than Halloween.
The palette is warm earth and char. The type leans old, but clean. Andrew's illustration work anchors the identity with genuine craft, and the system is built to hold both the intimate bar experience and the larger venue programming without contradiction.
A complete identity, built to last
The final brand book documents the full system — rationale, usage rules, application examples — in a format the client can hand off to any future designer or printer without the identity drifting. That durability was a deliberate goal: a bar's brand touches so many surfaces over time that the guidelines have to be both specific and practical.
This project was presented as part of my school capstone and represents the most comprehensive brand identity I've built to date.