North Star Coffee 

North Star Coffee is a Leeds brand that needs little introduction. Between its own shops and kiosks and the independent cafés serving its coffee, the North Star name, bright colours and star logo are familiar to a lot of local coffee drinkers.

Working together

Our work with North Star began in 2022 with the signs for its Sovereign Street kiosk. Since then, we’ve produced signs and graphics for locations all around Leeds, as well as event displays, mobile coffee bar wraps and a branded van. In 2026, the team came to us for the signs for two more city-centre locations: Victoria Quarter and Great George Street.

North Star supplies the artwork; we advise on the materials that will work best, then produce the signs and graphics.

Making North Star’s designs work 

There’s plenty of variety in the work North Star sends our way. At Leeds Dock, we’ve created wall graphics for the coffee shop. For events, we’ve wrapped mobile coffee bars and urns and made backdrops for Glasgow Coffee Festival.

For the exhibition backdrop, we used painted MDF boards with applied vinyl lettering, carrying North Star’s distinctive branding from its coffee shops onto the stand. Away from Leeds, where visitors might be discovering North Star for the first time, the bold graphics helped the stand catch their attention and gave them something to remember the brand by.

The mobile counters are wooden, come in different sizes and get moved between events, so the wraps had to fit each one and be robust enough to cope with repeated handling.

There are smaller jobs too, including updates to wording and removing old window graphics. Working with North Star over several years means we’ve been involved in those everyday changes as well as the new openings.

North Star at Victoria Quarter

The Victoria Quarter kiosk brought a new brief. North Star was taking over an existing wooden counter in the arcade and wanted to give it its own look.

The counter graphics use a brown background with pink starbursts, leaving some of the wood visible above. As well as the wrap, we created menu graphics and smaller signs, including a panel introducing customers to North Star. 

The sign above the counter took a bit more figuring out. People approach the kiosk from both sides of Victoria Quarter, so the North Star name needed to be visible from either side. 

We produced a double-sided illuminated lightbox to fit the existing display counter. Its raised, so people can see the name in lights as they approach from either end of the arcade. 

Another opening on Great George Street

Great George Street was a more traditional shopfront job for our team, but the shop itself is bold and colourful. We supplied the signs and window graphics for the new location, with the North Star name standing out in white against a bright blue fascia. Along with the pink frontage, it makes the shop hard to miss. 

For North Star, having a team they can return to makes it easier to manage several projects at once. They know who to call when something needs adapting or a last-minute request comes in.

“They’re reliable, responsive and straightforward, which makes a big difference when you’re juggling lots of projects at once. They’re always willing to help, even with last-minute requests, and they’re good at suggesting practical solutions when something needs adapting.

“The quality has always been really high. The finished signage feels well made and does justice to the original designs.”

Lucas Jubb, Head of Brand, North Star Coffee Roasters

Asked what keeps him coming back, Lucas says “Mainly trust. I know they’ll be responsive, get things done properly and help find a solution if something unexpected comes up.”

We love working on North Star’s projects and seeing the finished graphics around Leeds. Most of the team are coffee drinkers too, so we’re always happy to call in for a flat white.

Planning a signs and graphics project?

If you have artwork ready but need help working out the practical details, talk to FASTSIGNS Leeds. We’ll recommend suitable materials, adapt the job to the space and produce signs and graphics that do your designs justice.

Tell us about your project.