The quietly confident and timeless Southside Social made its mark on Belfast’s night scene in 2022. Sitting just off Botanic Avenue in Belfast, the bar is located on one of the city’s busiest streets, full of food, drink, and plenty of life. With a love for atmospheric, timeless interiors, and brand stories, the Southside Social owners approached local studio Angel & Anchor to create a full identity that matches the bar’s personality.

Southside Social began with the owner’s admiration for classic cocktails and late-night catch-ups. A narrative expressing the bar’s charming, confident, and easygoing personality was developed, informing the fit-out and visual identity of Southside Social.

The unique experience of this Belfast bar is established through art direction and interior design. Wooden panelling, green leather booths, a New York-style cocktail bar and an in-house Chinese takeaway bring the perfect combination of nostalgia and comfort to the space. Working alongside Interior Design and Architecture studio, A.D.O, and joinery specialists at Carter’s Workshop, the narrative inspired by Madmen and 80’s social clubs infused every corner of the bar with its charmingly confident and easygoing personality.

The tipping of cups to cheers, speech bubbles of a bustling bar, and ’rounds’ among friends are all markers of a good time, and the Southside logomark is a testament to each one.

Reflecting the tipping of a cup to cheers, speech bubbles of a bustling bar, and ’rounds’ among friends, a tri-story symbol brings the bar’s legacy *of a “classic night out”* into one balanced mark. Looking to old sports clubs and retro lounge coasters for inspiration, the straightforward yet bold logotype captures the bar’s timeless personality. Complementing the core mark, the pair create harmony between the confident and the considered.

From Beer Foam White to Gulf Blue, Southside Social’s colour palette was informed by the spirit of 80’s bars and smokey social clubs. Coming together in both the physical space and the visual identity, they infuse each cocktail menu, social post, billboard, and bathroom sign with a hint of Southside’s classic personality.

Brand Language formed another critical component of the Southside Social brand identity. A set of key and secondary phrases bring the bar’s character to the forefront of its interactions with the public and express its brand personality through written form. The ethos of the language was created focusing on the community-centred nature of the bar with phrases like “the original neighbourhood bar” and “where it really happens”.

The rounded serif body copy typeface, New Kansas, leaves remnants of the mid-century inspiration throughout the brand. This clear and legible body copy typeface carries the bar’s character and personality through every line. Pushing the bar’s more modern and “place to be” tone, the typeface “Swear Display” highlights key phrases from the brand language. The transitional typeface with high contrast and sloping letters brings messaging phrases like “Cheers to that” and “Meet you there” to life with a laid-back classy attitude. Together these typefaces, brand language, logo mark and logotype create a visual identity that fully expresses the bar’s personality and brings together the essence of the Southside Social experience.

A cocktail of collaboration and good times on tap combine in this unique project. Classy and easygoing, the bar’s brand brings the mid-century dreams of Southside Social to life. Here today and still here tomorrow, find your new local just off Botanic Avenue, Belfast. Meet you there.