Popayán Coffee Coop. was an Edmonton coffee company that sourced fair-trade, organic coffee from cooperatives in Popayán, the capital of Colombia’s Cauca region, whose coffee has held a protected Denomination of Origin since 2011. The brand had two problems to solve at once. On crowded coffee shelves, it needed to stand apart while still making its fair-trade and organic origins obvious. Behind the shelf, getting coffee roasted in Colombia into Canada quickly was a constant struggle, which put freshness at risk.

I answered with restraint: a modern, minimalist identity in a palette of coffee browns, built to stand apart on the shelf. A roast date stamped on every bag spoke directly to freshness, and the packaging itself carried the brand’s values, with compostable bags and aluminum cans. The identity ran across coffee bags, a cold brew can, to-go cups, a menu, a window sign and business cards, and it stood out on shelves as distinct for its time.