UCC Coffee: Coffee Label Redesign
Posted: November 24, 2015 Filed under: competitions, Subject Y3, Year 3 | Tags: 500g, awards, beans, blend, brand, brief, cafe, certified, coffee, colour, competition, contrasting, ethical, fair, formal, grand, graphics, hierarchy, identity, illustration, label, mockup, modern, monotone, original, packaging, palette, pattern, presentable, rebrand, revitalisation, roasted, slow, student, traceable, trade, UCC, YCN Leave a commentThe first touch point I wanted to rebrand was the coffee packaging. I liked the idea of having a generic plain packaging which would made from recycled material and eco-friendly ink. This would be similar across every blend of coffee from Grand Café. Upon packaging each blend would have their own sustaina-label applied with their own unique colour to be easily identifiable to the consumer. I started off with a square block of colour to give the company a modern approach to symmetrical design. I followed this by adding an additional rectangle below for additional information. After manipulating and formatting the text I was happy with the layout. I feel it has a clean and understandable format and hierarchy of text. I decided to use white text for clarity and reinforce the ideology of sustainability through the use of lighter colours.
To keep the colour theme original I steered away from coffee colours and added contrasting tones to the different blends available. The brief does identify that I am not restricted to the packaging and available blends which gives me the freedom to really explore the brands possibilities to make the packaging presentable on small coffee shops counters and connect to the modern consumer.
Here are 2 alternative mockups of possible coffee 500g packaging. I explored the positioning of the label and found that it was more sensible to have the label lower down to allow the consumer to refold the packaging after use, keeping the coffee’s taste and aroma fresh.
Here are the four different blends and their recognisable colour palettes.
My next move is to apply the certified logos on each of the packaging accordingly. I am also going to explore and illustrate ethical-related packaging wrappings, possibly for each individual blend to allow myself to relate it to the culture and background of the coffee’s origin in a step towards fair-trade awareness and promotion to the consumer.
UCC Coffee: Competitors
Posted: November 18, 2015 Filed under: competitions, Subject Y3, Year 3 | Tags: beans, branding, certified, coffee, consumerism, cooperatives, costa, countries, customers, developing, empower, esquire, ethical, fairness, fairtrade, farmers, future, graphics, identity, ideology, niche, packaging, Porter's Five Forces, poverty, pret a manger, research, revitalisation, scheme, selling point, starbucks, sustainable, UCC, unique Leave a commentTo begin my extended research into UCC Coffee, I felt it was necessary to look at the other competitors on the market and their brand identity & values. Looking at these will aid my creative thinking and experimentation towards a unique niche which will help revitalise Grand Café which will boldly stand out from its competitors.
The more obvious Coffee franchises are Costa, Starbucks, Nero, Coffee Republic and Pret-A-Manger. There are various coffee shops around Cardiff for instance which can be found on the high street, each with their own unique approach to the delivery of their coffee to the consumer.
UCC Coffee falls into the ‘independent coffee shops’ category as it does not directly sell to consumers, but instead to non-branded cafes, pop up shops and mobile catering companies who are fully behind ethical and sustainable consumerism. This target market is not an issue for the company and has been a total success – although their Grand Café identity lacks the heart and soul of UCC Coffee’s positive attitude to fair-trade.
I was able to find a ‘Porter’s Five Forces’ on Coffee which demonstrates the issues UCC may face without an iconic visual brand for its Grand Café selection. The story of how UCC’s coffee has helped change the environment for the better must be clearly communicated for the consumer to feel a part of a community who are helping to bring a positive change to the way consumers buy products.
I also stumbled across an ethical coffee ranking of well-respected coffee franchises. From this, I was surprised to see Starbucks and Pret-A-Manger near the bottom of the ranking due to their push to use organic and sustainable coffee beans from certified farms. However after some further research, Soho is an independent, privately owned business which is part of the fair-trade scheme.
The Fairtrade Foundation’s focus is on helping farmers and workers improve the quality of their lives and take more control over their futures. Fairtrade is the only certification scheme whose purpose is to tackle poverty and empower producers in developing countries.
Soho’s coffee beans are also 100% organic and 100% Arabica. The company supports a number of charitable organisations throughout the year and work closely with several local schools near their base in Cheltenham and even proudly exhibit year 7-12 artwork in their Chambray Place store. This sense of community and giving back – supports the sustainable and ethical ideology which UCC strive to promote & encourage.
Furthermore, Esquire is one of the leading companies who’s defined brand focuses on fairness, integrity, passion, excellence, innovation, community and sustainability. This culture has allowed the company to undertake global expansion from Canada in 1993. It is regarded as the only High Street coffee chain in the UK with 100% Fairtrade and organically certified grown coffee. Since 2007, Esquire’s coffee has also been ethically sourced through Fair-trade certified cooperatives in Peru, Sumatra, Honduras and Tanzania.
Ben Walton 
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