Coffee has a massive global appeal, and while the specialty coffee sector is very much a community, the industry can be fiercely competitive.
This is why the right coffee bag branding is essential to the success of any roastery. It helps capture the attention of your desired target audience and inspires customers to choose your coffee over a competitor.
That said, there are various coffee bag branding styles and designs to choose from, and deciding which is the right look for your business can be a challenge.
When it comes to coffee bag branding style and replicating it through the roastery, it may be worth looking at the competition.
Discover some of the leading styles to inspire your coffee brand design that will match the look and feel of your coffee roastery.
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Successful branding styles in coffee packaging
A successful brand style often resonates with customers and helps them feel connected with the company and its products.
That said, it relies on consistency across digital platforms, coffee packaging, and roastery.
Brand style can be shaped through various means, including language, images, typeface, and colour schemes.
Minimalist coffee bags
Minimalist design has grown in popularity in recent years and highlights simple line logos and neutral colour palettes.
This style of coffee packaging is ideal for roasteries that want the product to speak for itself, as it often allows for the product inside to truly shine.
Minimalist packaging has a clean, simple design that is often considered contemporary and sleek. It can be a highly effective way to sharpen your branding and let the company name or logo stand out as it will not be fighting with bold colours or illustrations for the consumers’ attention.
Minimalist coffee packaging is an elegant and modern way to showcase your coffee.
Eco-inspired coffee packaging
If eco-credentials and sustainable practices sit at the core of your brand, it can be conveyed by using earthy and neutral shades in your coffee bag design.
Eco-inspired coffee packaging can help reflect your company’s ethics and the standards you aim for.
Colours such as green, brown, blue, and white are associated with nature and can inspire a feeling of calm and tranquillity.
Additionally, these colours are also often considered more practical and reassuring. An earthy colour palette can help reinstate the importance of your brand ethics, whether it be Fairtrade coffee or sourcing from bird-friendly farms or those owned and operated by women.
More so, there has been an increased demand for eco-friendly printing options and packaging made from renewable and recyclable resources.
As a result, coffee bags made from unbleached kraft paper or rice paper have become popular.
When treated, both offer high barrier properties against coffee’s traditional enemies (oxygen, light, moisture, and heat), while providing a lightweight, sustainable, and cost-effective packaging solution.
Playful illustrations on coffee bags
The growing popularity of digitalisation means hand-drawn illustrations have become somewhat of a novelty.
Incorporating them into your coffee packaging may help give your roastery personality and humour, or, depending on the illustration, a hint of whimsy.
The demand for handcrafted elements and products that look rustic and unique has increased in recent years.
A growing number of consumers seem to be moving away from polished graphics and towards authenticity and local craftsmanship.
Illustrations can play a key role in building a brand style that is fun, playful, and above all, memorable. A clever illustration is almost guaranteed to capture a consumer’s attention and make them smile.
An effective example of using illustrations on coffee bags is The Gentlemen Baristas: a roastery that names each of its coffees after a different style of hat.
Each coffee bag features an intricate line drawing of the hat in question, adding a whimsical yet classical to the brand, which, in its own words, “provides well-mannered coffee.”
Retro coffee packaging
Traditional styles are making a comeback due to their nostalgic feel.
For many roasters, this is an opportunity to establish a “time-honoured” feel to your brand.
Colour palettes that are reminiscent of the 50s, 60s, and 70s, coupled with retro bubble fonts, have popped up as brands are inspired to create a lasting impression with styles that feel classic.
Many customers may associate older, more established brands with higher quality, so retro-inspired coffee bags may help to convey authenticity.
Additionally, it may help drive consumers to your product, as it may evoke a sentimental feeling.
Another example is London retailer, Roan Records, which serves coffee to in-store customers. The retailer has tied the design of their takeaway coffee cups in with the brand, which is focused on celebrating the timeless charm of vintage records.
The brand style features a faded burnout logo that conveys a worn, vintage feeling to customers.
Typography-focused coffee bags
Typography seems to have taken the lead on many packaging designs, particularly for coffee brands, coffee shops, and roasteries.
From intricate calligraphy-inspired typefaces to bold lettering and hand-written fonts, typography has a unique way of setting the right tone for your brand.
Furthermore, it can be an appealing choice for brands that want to add personality to packaging while ensuring it is informative and eye-catching.
Accentuating text with a jazzy font or colourful text can be effective, regardless of whether you want to evoke a classic and traditional feel or a contemporary and fun brand.
Why roasters should consider coffee bag branding style
Coffee packaging needs to convey so much information in a short space of time.
Therefore, it is essential you choose a style that not only attracts the audience you intend but also captures the attention of consumers quickly.
From contemporary branding for modern establishments to retro fonts for businesses wanting to celebrate the past, there are various ways to showcase your brand’s unique personality through your coffee packaging.
Building a strong and consistent brand style requires strategy, planning, research, and creativity. What’s more, it takes consistency, intention, clarity, and the ability to persevere.
No matter which trend you’re considering integrating, MTPak Coffee can assist you – and we can help you balance your practical requirements with your sustainability efforts.
We offer a range of 100% recyclable coffee packaging options made from renewable materials such as kraft paper, rice paper, or multilayer LDPE packaging with an environmentally friendly PLA lining, all of which minimise waste and contribute to a circular economy.
More so, we give our roasters complete control over the design process by allowing them to build their own coffee bags. Our design team is available to help you create the ideal coffee packaging.
Plus, we are able to custom-print coffee bags using innovative digital printing technology, with a quick turnaround time of 40-hours and 24-hour shipping time.
MTPak Coffee also offers low minimum order quantities (MOQs) to micro-roasters who are looking to remain agile while showcasing brand identity and a commitment to the environment.
