Tote bag design ideas for every kind of business

Food and drink businesses have it easy: the product is already a picture.

Cafés and coffee roasters

Turn the product into the logo. Our made-up roaster Ropewalk Coffee puts a single coffee bean between the words of its name, printed in one cream ink on a black tote. Roasters can go further: print the farms or regions you buy from on the back, set out like the label on a bag of beans. A small drawstring stuff bag makes lovely packaging for a bag of beans as a gift.

Bakeries and delis

One warm ink on a dark bag looks like it came out of an oven. Oak & Ember Bakery uses a single ochre loaf and flame on black. A deli might print a hand-drawn map of its suppliers on the back, every farm within a few miles.

Breweries, cider makers and distillers

Make the fruit, hop or botanical big. An apple in one bright ink is instantly a cider bag, and on a bag with contrast handles you can match the ink to the handles. Gin makers can borrow the look of their bottle label, which people already recognise. For bottles, the Classic Jute Cotton Canvas Bag has a wide base that holds one upright.

Independent shops often sell their bags, so the bag has to be good enough to buy.

Bookshops

Books give you shapes everyone recognises: a stack of spines, an open page, a reading lamp. Spine & Spoke Books keeps it to one golden yellow on black. Oakwood Library Friends grows an oak sprig out of an open book, in one cream ink on black.

Record shops

A 12-inch record is about 31 cm square, so a 38 x 42 cm bag carries LPs flat. The record itself makes a great shape, with bold, retro lettering. A single gold ink on black looks like a record label; four soft colours on grey look like a 1970s sleeve.

Plant shops and florists

Botanical line drawings print beautifully in one ink. A monstera leaf, a wreath of flowers or a single stem, with the name small underneath. On a natural bag, a deep green or navy looks right; on a coloured bag, white. Florists can also use a bright drawstring bag as a gift bag for a posy.

Club and event bags get carried by people who are proud of belonging, so they can be louder than shop bags.

Running, swimming and cycling clubs

Movement makes a good logo: a trainer with speed lines, a diving bird, a spinning wheel. Northern Loop Cycle Club puts a white bicycle wheel on a black bag. For trail runners, a sunrise over a hill on a navy drawstring bag that goes on the back for training.

Climbing walls and gyms

Mountains, carabiners and bold, chunky type. A bright yellow drawstring bag with black and red ink is easy to spot in a pile of kit.

Festivals, fairs and markets

For festivals and fairs, the year and the line-up are the point, because the bag is a souvenir. A canal-side market might put a narrowboat on the front and the dates on the back. Our festival bags page has more on bags for events.

For design-led businesses, the confident move is to print less.

Architects and design studios

A small wordmark with a lot of empty bag around it looks deliberate and expensive. Hollin Design Studio prints a tiny black mark on a natural tote; Bertrand Studio uses a single pale gold on black.

Interiors shops

Choose the bag colour the way you'd choose a paint colour. A yellow bag with a green and white arch says "we care about colour" before anyone reads the name.

Salons and barbers

Scissors, combs and a good pun. Black ink on a jute bag with black sides looks smart on a salon counter and holds products bought at the till.

Hotels and guest houses

A bag guests can take to the beach or buy at reception. Keep it calm: one white ink on navy, an anchor or a sketch of the building, and the name.