Pinterest mood board showing inspiration for the Hollatte café branding project

Some ideas never really leave us…

This was the original logo Holly designed when she was seven years old. She called her imaginary coffee shop "Hollatay" – her own unique spelling at the time!

When my daughter Holly was about seven years old, she came up with the idea for an imaginary coffee shop called Hollatay – a mash-up of her name and, of course, a latte. Looking back, it was probably my first glimpse of her entrepreneurial streak.

But Hollatte wasn't just a coffee shop. It also had a bookshop, a Pilates and yoga studio, and a place where people could come together, relax and spend time with friends. She spent countless happy hours designing logos, sketching the shop front and creating menus. It was a project that kept her busy for many long hours and gave her the perfect outlet for the creativity she has always had.

Fast forward eight years, and Holly is now 15 and has just completed Year 10 at high school. She is one of those lucky people who has the combination of being both creative and academic – a seriously talented combination. She is studying GCSE Graphic Design and Business Studies, both subjects she has absolutely loved and has been excelling in this year.

So when it came to arranging her work experience, she knew she wanted to explore a role in marketing, graphic design or journalism. Unfortunately, finding a placement turned out to be much harder than we expected.

Finding a different kind of opportunity

Between us, we sent what felt like hundreds of emails. I reached out to my LinkedIn connections, asked everyone I could think of through local networking groups and contacted businesses that I thought might be able to offer her a valuable experience.

The responses were always kind, but they were largely the same: businesses simply didn't have the time or capacity to give a student a proper work experience placement.

We then went back to the drawing board and started looking at local cafés, restaurants, shops and community centres, but by that point many of the opportunities had already been taken.

It was disappointing, but it also made me think differently. Instead of trying to squeeze Holly into someone else's business for a week, why not create a project that would genuinely challenge her and allow her to experience the whole creative process?

So I suggested she spend the week working with me.

At first, she wasn't convinced. Working with your mum doesn't exactly sound like the exciting work experience you imagine at 15! She worried that she wouldn't get the same experience as going into a workplace with people she didn't know.

I suggested something different. I would treat it like a real project. She would create a fictional business, and I would guide her through the complete process of building the brand, from the initial idea through to a fully functioning website.

She finally agreed, although she was slightly reluctant about the tech side of things – particularly the website. Little did she know that this would probably become her favourite part.

Creating a real work experience week

To help give Holly more insight into what it is actually like to run a small business, I wanted the week to feel as realistic as possible. I gave her strict working hours, created a plan for each day and set goals for what she wanted to achieve by the end of the week.

We also fitted in a face-to-face networking session with Women Inspired Network, where she had the opportunity to meet other small business owners and confidently talk about her own project.

Alongside the creative work, I also spent time showing her some of the technology behind the scenes – the systems, processes and automation magic that helps keep a small business running. Running a business isn't just about the visible creative work. There is so much planning, organisation and problem-solving happening behind the scenes.

Going back to the original idea

When we started brainstorming business ideas, we remembered Hollatay. It felt like the perfect choice.

A childhood idea that had been sitting there for years suddenly became the foundation for a complete branding and website project.

The name evolved slightly to Hollatte, but the idea remained exactly the same.

And that was really all Holly needed. I gave her the process, and she completely rolled with it.

The result? A funky logo, a full brand identity, a beautiful website and a dream café brought to life.

Starting with the brand

The first stage was creating the visual identity. Interestingly, this was probably the easiest part for Holly. Creating a brand was simply another graphic design project, similar to the work she has been doing at school all year.

She created a mood board, explored colours and typography, designed the logo and produced a brand guidelines document to keep everything consistent. The brand quickly started to take shape.

Building the website

Once the branding was established, we moved on to creating the website.

This was the part Holly had been most unsure about. She wasn't convinced she would enjoy the technical side, but once I pointed her in the right direction and helped her understand how everything fitted together, she absolutely loved it.

What impressed me most was how much she achieved when I had to leave her to work independently one day. The ideas just flowed.

Playing on the name Hollatte, she created Hollatte’s Pilates – her very own style of traditional Pilates. She created a signature café drink called the Choc Hollatte, included a book club, creative workshops, a full programme of Pilates and yoga classes, and even Puppy Yoga.

I couldn't love it more.

Bringing the brand into every detail

The project didn't stop at the website. Holly also created food and drinks menus so the branding carried through every part of the customer experience.

This was a great opportunity for her to see that a brand isn't just a logo. It is every interaction someone has with a business – from the website they visit, to the menu they read, to the feeling they have when they walk through the door.

What this project reminded me about websites

Watching Holly experience this process for the first time reminded me how much happens before a website is ever built.

People often think web design begins with choosing a template, picking colours or creating pages. But those decisions come much later.

The real work starts with understanding the business, defining the brand and creating a clear structure that supports the people using the website.

A great website isn't just something that looks good. It needs to communicate clearly, guide visitors and make it easy for people to find what they need.

More than just a work experience placement

Holly took some stick from her friends for not getting the "full" work experience because she was working with her mum.

But looking back, I genuinely think she gained something incredibly valuable.

She had the opportunity to express her creativity, apply the skills she has been developing at school and experience what it is like to take an idea from a blank page through to a finished brand.

She built confidence, learned new skills and created something she is genuinely proud of.

For me, it was also a wonderful reminder of why I love what I do. Seeing someone experience the process for the first time helped me appreciate all the different stages that go into creating a brand and website.

Some ideas never really leave us

As parents, we often keep the little drawings, stories and projects our children create without really knowing why. They get tucked away in boxes or folders, becoming lovely memories of a particular moment in time.

I never imagined that one of Holly's childhood ideas would come back eight years later and become a complete brand identity and website.

It turns out that keeping that little drawing was worth it after all.

Looking back, Hollatte was never really just about coffee. It was about imagination, creativity and building something from an idea.

Eight years later, that same idea became a complete brand identity, a website, menus, brand guidelines and a business concept that Holly is incredibly proud of.

And I couldn't be prouder either.

Who knows… perhaps one day Hollatte won't be quite so fictional after all.

P.S. If you're wondering, Holly designed every visual you see in this post herself during her week of work experience. I simply guided her through the same branding and website process I use with my own clients.