Client
Lenah Crawford
Background
Coffee Koi began as one person roasting at home and selling to the people standing in front of her. The packaging had to hold its own beside corporate coffee on a market stall without losing the sense that somebody's hands are on it, and the koi had to read as character rather than as a sea life theme.
Approach
Several directions were explored. An early one leaned on detailed illustration and layered information, which proved too complex to communicate at arm's length, a stall is read in about a second, not studied. The direction that held is bolder and more reduced, without losing the sense that somebody's hands are on it: the koi, the frame, the origin band and the roasting seal all drawn in white line at a single weight on a bold color. Roast date, origin and flavour profile were reorganised into an order that can be scanned rather than studied. Roast date, origin and flavour profile were reorganised into an order that can be scanned rather than studied.
Outcome
The line weight and the ground colour carry the variation across the range, so every pack reads as the same object in a different key. Packaging with the character of something made by hand and the discipline to scale, which is what a brand moving from stall to café needs.
