UCC Coffee: Prototype of packaging
Posted: December 6, 2015 Filed under: competitions, Other, Subject Y3, Year 3 | Tags: cafe, coffee, drawn, ethical, grand, graphics, hand, illustration, mockup, narrative, packaging, prototype, revitalisation, story, sustainable, UCC Leave a commentFrom my tutorial yesterday, I took on board feedback on trying to make the packaging unique and creative. I drew out a few sealable lids and preferred this a tear-away tab with resealable flap. The packaging size will be considerably bigger for the final outcome.
Under the flap, which will be usable upon tearing away the tab, is a hidden story to further raise awareness to the hidden procedures that happen to deliver UCC Coffee to the consumer in a sustainable and ethical way. Here is where the coffee pourer is introduced. There is a small opening which will have a plastic seal on to keep the coffee fresh and lock in the aroma. This can be reused again and again. The lid/flap will also be able to fold back into place.
For my next tutorial, I would like to integrate the farmer pictograms into my cafe illustrations and create 4 unique stories which highlight the stages of ethical & sustainable farming and what good it really does for the farmers.
UCC Coffee: The unique range of blends & tutorial
Posted: December 4, 2015 Filed under: competitions, Subject Y3, Year 3 | Tags: blend, coffee, competition, concept, copyright, design, drawn, feedback, graphics, hand, identity, illustrations, journey, modification, narrative, net, packaging, pattern, peer, product, review, revitalisation, story, tutorial, UCC, unique, user Leave a commentFrom my previous post, I have corrected minor typos and experimented with possible coffee cup designs. From here, I want to create a unique story for each blend to further promote their individuality and help raise awareness of their sustainably & ethically sourced origins. I would also like to give some information on the certificates each blend has to help teach those who are unaware of the projects and motifs in place by companies all over the world who are pushing for a fairer and more ethical community between third world countries and the big businesses who may exploit them.
After creating my coffee cup I was made aware of the similarity it has to Café Nero through the colour blue. Because of this, I feel it would be better to step away from total colour wrapping on coffee cups and focus on the brand’s pattern. I also have a few ideas of how the packaging would efficiently be sealed, I want to step away from the generic fold coffee bags have and so I will further manipulate the packaging net in my next prototype.
Today I had a tutorial with David on my collection of prototypes. He felt I still had a niche to grasp with the front label and suggested I continue to experiment with the label, possibly by designing it within a coffee leaf. My farmer illustrations also came into question as to whether they would be suitable for the brand identity however I feel it is difficult to capture the essence of coffee farmers through the limited tools used by the employees which can be related to other agricultural jobs, this distanced the identity away from a coffee product. I will continue to integrate farming equipment into my cafe illustrations and see where my experimentation goes from there. We moved onto the back, David felt that my ingredients and contact info was too small and appeared squeezed at the bottom. I can easily resolve this issue by moving the information onto the bottom or side of the packaging. This will then open up the back for me to add my unique story which could possibly highlight sustainable farming or the certificate information.
The tutor was pleased with my advancements since my last tutorial and is happy with my progress so far, my text hierarchy and colours are great and work well together. I do however need to update the main icons on the front of each blend to their own unique pictogram to further individualise each blend.
After the tutorial I sketched out some possible packaging modifications which will help with the sealing of the top. I was curious of a pop-out / lockable flap which would help keep the coffee fresh and full of aroma. I have an idea of a hidden pourable hole which will eliminate the need for a coffee scoop and encourage the barrister to use the packaging in front of the consumer. This will attract more attention and promote the sustainable coffee blends to other customers waiting in the que. My conceptual lid flap will also enable me to add hidden story for the consumer upon opening the lid.
UCC Coffee: Material Research
Posted: December 3, 2015 Filed under: competitions, Other, Subject Y3, Year 3 | Tags: branding, coffee, concept, copyright, finish, foil, fresh, generation, gloss, idea, ideas, illustration, lining, packaging, pattern, perforator, preserving, quality, revitalisation, spot, UCC, varnish, vector Leave a commentFor my finalised packaging I would like to use recycled white card with spot gloss to coat my illustrated pattern throughout. I feel this will draw special attention to the detail the illustrations have and bring character to the product, giving it a high-quality finish. I am also hoping to use a perforator for tearable tags for the barrister to open. This will help keep the coffee fresh and lock in the aroma of the coffee beans. I will explain this further in my next blog post.
I am also curious to line the inside of the packaging with a foil sheeting. This will again keep the coffee fresh and protect the contents from having contact with moisture.
UCC Coffee: Updated Coffee Packaging
Posted: December 2, 2015 Filed under: competitions, Other, Subject Y3, Year 3 | Tags: bean, cafe, coffee, competition, concept, design, drawn, ethical, grand, graphics, hand, idea, illustrations, journey, packaging, revitalisation, student, sustainable, UCC, undergraduate, user, vector Leave a commentHere is my refined coffee packaging after I took onboard all of the feedback I got from David over the past few days. 
I wanted to steer away from the corporate feel which my square label suggested. I found a fantastic group of fonts which I feel work really well together and are playful and match the visual brand identity. I have updated and moved the unique blend of colours to the sides of each package design to keep the main focal point on the blend’s information on the front. During my experimenting I also redesigned the brand’s logo layout ‘Grand Café.
From my previous posts, I have also followed my intention of adding a coffee journey to the packaging. This follows the same illustrations as the brand patterns and are hand drawn & further vectorised. I have added the required certificates to each specific blend accordingly to the brief. By using a higher GSM, the packaging in comparison to my previous design is more refined and looks more professional and appealing. The strong use of colours which contrast against the monotone illustrations create a perfect brand identity which can be visually engaging to consumers.
*Note: If you haven’t already noticed, please ignore the typo ‘soured’ instead of ‘sourced’ on the front label. This was corrected immediately after mock-ups were produced. Many thanks!
Tutorial with Ray: which direction to take
Posted: December 1, 2015 Filed under: competitions, Other, Term 3, Year 3 | Tags: cafe, coffee, consumer, design, ethical, grand, graphics, growth, identity, label, packaging, rebrand, revitalisation, student, sustainable, tutorial, UCC Leave a commentToday I had a quick tutorial with Ray on my progress. I have not done much more since my last tutorial on Friday apart from the changes suggested by my peers due to preparing for an interview which I had this morning at 9am with a company called ‘Buddy Creative’ based in Chengdu, China. I showed him my new possible box concept which features a transparent window shaped in the continent of where the beans originated from. I also showed him a few of my new brand patterns and discussed my brief with him. We both agreed that it would be an option to design a packaging which would be present to a consumer within a shop – as an additional possible touch point.
Ray suggested that I keep to the generic packaging style to keep my brand style on target in time for the hand-in, in 2 weeks time. I feel this is sensible and I will continue to adapt my packaging to fit the briefs goals of promoting what good UCC Coffee is and what good it does.
He also felt that I needed a contrasting set of colours to bring excitement to the brand to grasp the consumers attention in a striking fashion. Ray helped me out a lot by just discussing the direction I could take for Wednesdays tutorial and gave me some possible ways of steering away from the corporate feel of my Grand Café label.
Direction to take:
Following the tutorial, I need to introduce geography and educate the consumer of the source of the coffee beans and how the are ethically farmed.
Tutorial with David
Posted: November 27, 2015 Filed under: competitions, Other, Subject Y3, Year 3 | Tags: coffee, corporate, cup, ethical, feedback, guidance, help, label, pattern, pictograms, promote, rebrand, rethink, revitalisation, sustainability, tutorial, UCC Leave a commentToday, I had a group tutorial with my peers, were went around each unique brief and the progression from each person. From the group discussion, I was suggested to change the typeface as it makes the packaging seem to corporate through the use of sharp and blocky colours.
I originally did this to help reduce trimming wastage during production, however the tutor suggested I ignored the printing aspect of the brief at this stage as it will limit my creative ability. I should think about a different shape for the label, if a label is used at all. Other means of packaging could be through tins, boxes and old shaped containers which resemble the coffee beans origins.
In response to my illustration patterns, the pictograms are interesting and have a unique brand identity – however, the icons are not relevant to the origins or company goals. They are just seen as generic farming icons which could be replicated anywhere. I need to think about this and target more specifically which icons I should illustrated. This could be resolved by maybe adding small continents within the pattern, along with famous landmarks or food to the designated blend.
Onto the further touch points, the cup could have a story on the inside of the cup which is revealed as the user drinks their coffee. Another approach would be to have parts of the story fragmented over multiple cups which may encourage consumers to try other blends. The group suggested that I could look at ‘heat sensitive ink’ for the coffee cups to reveal a story.
Main touchpoints:
To bring the illustrations into the label design, steer away from the corporate typefaces and block colours.
Think about how the story can be told within the café, possibly on the walls.
UCC Coffee: Tutorial
Posted: November 26, 2015 Filed under: competitions, Subject Y3, Year 3 | Tags: brand, brief, celebration, coffee, environment, ethical, fairtrade, feedback, graphics, hierarchy, identity, illustrations, label, modern, points, progress, real, recycled, revitalisation, student, touch, tutorial, UCC, World, YCN Leave a commentToday I had a tutorial with David, our new tutor. We went through my progress on the competitions project and my chosen brief – UCC Coffee. He was happy with my current progress and graphics system. He suggested extending my illustration pictograms to be relevant to the coffee farmers to help raise awareness of the ethical and sustainable side to UCC Coffee.
My revitalisation should be a celebration of UCC Coffee and promote what good the company does.
The typographical hierarchy is great on both the labels and tray liner posters however I should steer clear of Helvetica Neue and explore Dolton Maag for relevant, modern-styled typefaces. I do however need to adjust the hierarchy or positioning of the blend description. This can be mended by moving it to a separate label to the back or sides of the packaging. I would also need to adjust the leading on some parts.
I should celebrate the core values of the company through a narrative and connect with the audience through emotions.
Further amendments include adding the correct certificates to each blend accordingly. I will explore adding colour to the pictograms to bring the brand blend colours into the identity to help communicate the narrative.
UCC Coffee: Further Pattern Experimentation
Posted: November 24, 2015 Filed under: competitions, Other, Subject Y3, Year 3 | Tags: brand, coffee, colour, company, drawn, experimentation, farmer, feedback, grand cafe, graphics, hand, identity, illustrations, individualism, pattern, progress, revitalisation, student, sustainable, UCC Leave a comment
From my tutorial with David I went away to create further farmer themed illustration patterns for the brand identity which would be placed onto the coffee packaging 500g. I am super interested with hand illustrated graphics recently and feel this is a great way to expand my ability into different areas of practise. I do however feel these illustrations are limited as they are hard to link and promote the sustainable intentions UCC have. I will have another tutorial to get feedback on this issue. I also experimented with adding colour into the illustrations themselves to bring an overall sense of individualism and identity to each unique blend. This helps to bring the brand identity to life.
From here I would also like to place this brand identity onto coffee cups either though a cardboard slip or by printing directly onto the cup. Other options could use stickers or insulation wrappers.
Additional touch points;
Napkins, ceramic cup, sugar pouches, small take away bag for in-store purchases of food or drink
UCC Coffee: Tray liner/ poster
Posted: November 24, 2015 Filed under: competitions, Subject Y3, Year 3 | Tags: aspet, award, awareness, blend, cafe, certified, coffee, competition, concept, designer, eco-friendly, ethical, fair, farmers, fresh, grand, graphics, group, hierarchy, history, human, illustration, layout, liner, origins, poster, promotion, quality, rebrand, recycled, reimagined, revitalisation, roasted, slow, student, sustainable, traceable, trade, tray, UCC Coffee, YCN Leave a commentAfter researching different points of contact the consumer has with the product, I thought of traditional forms of communication and advertisement within a café. Often consumers buy food in cafés which may be accompanied by a unique UCC Coffee blend. This would be placed on a tray and then carried to the table. I was inspired by fast food restaurants, e.g. McDonalds – with their tray liner and decided to explore the possibilities of using this liner to advertise each unique blend UCC have to offer. I began by drawing out a basic layout and played with the hierarchy of text and image placement. I was excited to dive straight into digital exploration and initially designed four liner posters with high quality coffee-related stock images. Upon completion I really liked the outcome however I felt this did not respectfully contribute to the brief as it did not raise awareness to the ethical and fair-trade qualities off UCC Coffee. I redeveloped these liner posters with images of photos of coffee farmers from the origins of which the individual blend was harvested, e.g. Brazil & Peru.
Note: Sources of the images are credited at bottom of post.
The ethical aspect of these liner posters bring awareness to the people who work hard to make UCC Coffee possible. The layout of the text is set on the left side of each poster with the corresponding coffee farmer within the negative space. This information-free zone brings importance to the human aspect and quality of delivering fairer coffee beans to you, the consumer. These will be printed onto recycled materials with eco-friendly ink to help promote sustainability in the process.
These posters also have the possibility of bringing deals and statistics of ethical trade from UCC to again highlight the positive effects of drinking UCC Coffee.
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.
Ben Walton 
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