Sinh Vũ Studio
Connect with Sinh Vũ
Decoding brand identity · Food and beverage chain

Highlands does not change its shape, changes its usage

At the end of 2022, Highlands Coffee changed its sign for the fourth time. At first glance, it seems almost unchanged: the two oval shapes remain, as do the mountains, plains, and rivers. The real change lies in the details that few notice, and it reflects the challenge of a chain with over five hundred stores.

Milestone

Change

2022November 23Change signal

Three colors reduced to one, background removed

The fourth sign change after twenty-three years. The imagery remains almost unchanged, while the modifications are in the color palette and background, which determine how usable the sign is.

Change component(5)
  • Image. Retain the two large and small oval lines and the three elements of mountains, plains, and rivers, streamlined according to minimalist principles.
  • Color. The shades of red, coffee brown, and earth brown converge into a single color layer, with red as the primary.
  • Background. Switch to a transparent background to place it on various colored backgrounds.
  • Message. Highlands Coffee is Ours, accompanied by four values: passion, kinship, respect, support.
  • Order. This is the fourth change of the sign, the most recent one before that was in 2013.
Read at the professional level(4)
  • A transparent background changes the most, which the photos do not show. A sign with a fixed background requires cutting or accepting an awkward area each time it is placed on a different background. A transparent background eliminates that problem entirely, and does so once for all future touchpoints.
  • A single color layer is essential for a one-color version to retain everything. A three-color set printed in one color results in three tones merging into a patch and a broken image. A one-color set means that the one-color print is the original, not a simplified version.
  • Maintaining the two oval shapes preserves the readable part at the smallest size. In the few dozen pixels of the food delivery app icon, what remains readable is just the outer contour. Keeping the contour ensures recognition at the most extreme size that this brand must endure.
  • Simplifying three internal elements means accepting that they will not be read. Mountains, plains, and rivers are all details within the image, which are the parts that get trimmed before scaling down. Simplifying them means acknowledging that in most places they appear, viewers will not see them.
Why change(2)
  • A chain of over five hundred stores does not use the same sign in one place. It must appear on the paper cup, outdoor signage, takeaway bags, retail packaging, and tiny boxes on food delivery apps.
  • A three-color sign with a fixed background requires redrawing each time it is placed in a new location or accepting flaws. Simplifying to a single color on a transparent background resolves that knot, and does so once for all future touchpoints.
Within the brand system(2)
  • A chain of over five hundred stores does not have a single main touchpoint; it has a range from outdoor signage to icons of a few dozen pixels. The signage must be correct at both ends of the range, and the smaller end is the decisive one because it is more challenging.
  • Retail packaging is the second layer, where the sign stands alongside other brands on the same shelf rather than alone in its own store. The two layers require two types of behavior, and a single color background can work for both.
Trade-off(2)
  • The cost is depth. Three shades of brown evoke the feeling of roasted coffee and red earth from the highlands; reducing it to a flat color loses that material quality on large prints.
  • What is purchased is consistency at a scale that the human eye cannot verify. For a large chain, a slightly less vibrant sign that is identical in five hundred locations is still better than a beautiful sign that varies from place to place.
Professional assessment(4)
  • Can be closed. Changing the right two elements determines the scope of usability without affecting recognition. Professionally, this is a mature choice: decision-makers often want to see differences in the image, while what truly needs changing lies in what the image cannot capture.
  • Accepting a less vibrant sign in exchange for five hundred identical locations. For the chain, uniformity is a product attribute rather than an aesthetic issue.
  • Still open-ended. Retail packaging is the only layer where the brand must compete based on perception rather than position. A flat color layer is sufficient for signage and app icons, but on supermarket shelves, it stands alongside packaging designed to attract.
  • Using red as the primary color places the brand in the color zone of the dining industry. The distinguishing feature relies entirely on the oval outline, meaning it depends on just one point.
Takeaway(1)
  • This is the hardest change to sell to decision-makers, because placing the before and after images side by side shows almost no difference. But what Highlands purchased is not in that image; it lies in the fact that from now on, the sign can stand out wherever it appears. Before asking if the new sign looks better, it’s important to first ask if it can thrive in every place you need it to appear.
Similar case(2)
  • Viettel 2021 Streamline to be functionalFor the same operational reason, Viettel had to discard the old sign entirely to achieve this, while Highlands only needed to refine.
  • Petrolimex 2026 Keep a lot, change a littleMaintain the old shape while only adjusting the structure, over three years apart and distinctly different industries.

SourceNhân DânCafeF

Q&A5 frequently asked questions

Common questions people often search

When did Highlands Coffee change its logo?

On November 23, 2022, after twenty-three years of operation. This is the fourth sign change for Highlands Coffee, the last one prior was in 2013.

How does the new logo of Highlands Coffee differ from the old one?

The shape remains almost intact: the two large and small oval shapes taken from the coffee bean image, along with the three elements of mountains, plains, and rivers forming the shape of a cup. The change is the color palette simplified from red, coffee brown, and earth brown to a single layer of color with red as the primary, placed on a transparent background.

Why did Highlands Coffee switch to a transparent background?

A transparent background allows the same sign to be placed on various colored backgrounds without creating separate versions. With a chain of over five hundred stores, the sign must appear on cups, signage, bags, packaging, and app interfaces, so that adaptability is a condition for operation.

What is the new message of Highlands Coffee?

Highlands Coffee is Ours, accompanied by four values: passion, kinship, respect, and support. The brand expresses a desire to strengthen connections and become a community destination.

How many stores does Highlands Coffee have?

At the time of the announcement at the end of 2022, Highlands Coffee had over five hundred stores across Vietnam. Founder David Thái stated that the chain does not want to stop at serving coffee.

For you3 questions to ask

Three questions Highlands answers with drawings, not with words

  1. 01How many people pass by your sign each day, in how many places?Highlands corrected that point: a layer of color, a transparent background, placed anywhere. An identity system that fails in daily use cannot be saved by any presentation.
  2. 02If all decorative elements are removed, what remains that still allows people to recognize you?Highlands is simplified because it knows that the recognition lies in the oval shape and the three elements of mountains, plains, and rivers, so it refines the colors without losing its essence. Not knowing where that part lies means that each time you refine, you lose something.
  3. 03Who will say no when a branch prints its own sign as it wishes?Over five hundred sales points mean over five hundred opportunities for the identity system to be diluted. Guidelines do not enforce themselves; someone or something must do that.

Sinh Vũ has been addressing this challenge for Vietnamese businesses since 2009.Share your story with Sinh Vũ

CloseExtracted rules

The most intelligent change is often the one that few recognize

Highlands did not buy a new image. They bought the ability to place the same image on paper cups, signage, takeaway bags, food delivery app icons, and retail packaging without having to redraw it each time. This is the kind of change that business owners often see as not worth the money, because the before and after images look quite similar. However, what often fails in Vietnamese businesses is not the image itself, but how that image is used daily.

Read and decode by Sinh Vũ, the operational brand design studio.Updated August 15, 2026.