Coffee. Java. Coffee. Brew. Coffee. Bean juice. Brain juice. Jitter juice. Joe.
Whatever we call it, many of us consider coffee our first-thing fuel, the jolt that starts our creative engines, launching us into productive days. Developing a visual brand for coffee roasters and coffee shops requires translating an indescribable drink into the language of logo.
Search “coffee” on Dribbble, and you’ll find a notable number of coffee shots from Barcelona-based designer Salih Kucukaga. For him, branding coffee offers a chance to pay homage to a product he loves. “Coffee is not just a drink for me, it’s a passion,” he told Dribbble. “Coffee was first spread to the world from my home country, Istanbul. I beleive this may be the reason for my passion.
“I love the culture of coffee — to make it, to taste it, to present it — everything about coffee. And I have been lucky enough to work with some great people who share this same love.”
With the rise in popularity of craft coffees, designers must not only translate a roasters’ caffeinated vision into logo, but also must set that logo apart from the other coffee brands flooding the market. When Oregonian designer Kyla Tom and the team at the Madison Ave. Collective set out to brand Flag & Wire, a coffee roaster in the Pacific Northwest, they looked first to the company’s name, and what the name said about the company’s coffee.
“The name Flag & Wire — inspired by a poem from John Trotwood Moore — speaks of perseverance, completion, and finishing strong. In other words: great coffee with a great finish, and attention to detail from beginning to end.
“We were inspired by the idea of simple monoline logos to reinforce the ‘wire’ aspect of the name, so we created a thin, simple and elegant logo mark with matching type to further emphasize the idea.”
Below, coffee shots from Kyla (top left) and Salih (top right), plus seven more from seven more designers from the last six months.
Top: Kyla Tom for Madison Ave. Collective, Dan Cassaro, Salih Kucukaga. Middle: Alberto Vacca Lepri/vacaliebres, Usama Awan, Jay Fletcher. Bottom: Alyson Brown, Parakeet, Indra Permana.
Shot Blocks offer a cluster of shots sharing a theme, a product, a method … whatever catches our fancy. We’re open to suggestions. Email stories@dribbble.com.
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