The coffee industry has rapidly grown in the past years. Many new brands and small producers are trying to find their place in the local and global markets. Like a few other products before, coffee opened the whole new world of trends, brewers, rich flavors, and packaging designs that follow. It became a fashionable thing more than ever before.

Designing a coffee packaging is always a great challenge. Creating a unique visual identity that can stand out from the competition is just one part of the puzzle. If you have a strong illustration background, it can give you wonderful potential. For the last two years, Creative Lemon design studio had an opportunity to work on many coffee brands from all over the world. Most of these brands were brand new and help them to develop from the start was a great journey. Each of them has its unique story that needs to be explored. Sometimes it is all about the origin, sometimes it is more about the cause, and in some cases, it is both. Telling that story in a visual way and introducing it to the world became our specialty.

One of the coffee brands that have an incredibly unique story is Gora coffee. It’s a Danish brand with Ethiopian origin. Grown, roasted, and packed in Ethiopia, it has a great “impact at origin”. It means that production involves the local population (about 15 million people in Ethiopia depends on the coffee industry). Also, this coffee has a very unique flavor. The Arabica plants are sustainably grown in the shade of the forest canopy. There, the coffee cherries ripen slowly, absorbing nutrients and flavors of the forest, its fallen fruits, and rich flora. A very important role in this chain has insect and nectar-eating birds. They clean the plants so there is no need to use pesticides. That fact was a leading idea for the packaging design. The other brand that has an interesting background is Zemi coffee. This brand has a clear mission – to support small coffee producers and plantations all over the world and help the farmers to continue with sustainable production. The owner of this brand is coming from the family of coffee farmers, so he is very much involved in every step of the production too. Working with these small companies gave us a chance to learn more about the process and be involved. Also, it gave us a clear picture of the problems that need to be solved.

It became clearer that we need to think not only about the designs but also about packaging production as an important step. When you are designing for established brands with strong budgets, you can be creative with materials. But, when you are designing for small company brands, you have limited budgets that you need to use wisely. It is already a great challenge for them to go with sustainable production and reduce CO2 footprint. So, invest in a sustainable coffee bag’s material, in the beginning, can be a tough decision to make.

To keep the coffee fresh, packaging must meet some standards. It is extremely challenging to replace plastic or aluminum bags with plant-based, biodegradable, and CO2-neutral materials. Nowadays, there are more and more options that can be explored and used. But it takes time and money to invest. We can only support our clients and hope that they will survive the economic challenges long enough to become proud owners of all sustainable brands. One thing is for sure – now is the best time to be involved in the coffee packaging design revolution.

Holidays are over and it’s time to start a new business year. We are all a little bit superstitious about this, we want to start it well and make it fruitful in the end. If you already created your New Year’s resolution list, then start with changing. If you haven’t, shame on you! Don’t be lazy and try to copy the one from last year. Grab your pen, laptop or phone and start from scratch. There must be some mountain that you want to concur and make yourself proud.

Those who work as entrepreneurs know how tricky this list can be. There are a lot of things you need to accomplish and also, there are twice as many you want to accomplish. And needing vs. wanting is a hard battle. You’ll always need a few more hours to read, finish a personal project or just contemplate. So, how to work on that and make peace with yourself?

#1 RESOLUTION – For a start, try working more on things you love. It can be hard, as sometimes you need to work just to pay the bills, we all do. But, try to make an effort and find a new opportunity that will give you a chance to shine. In that way, you will be more productive and happier in the end. Remember, money can’t buy happiness and sometimes that is all that you need.

#2 RESOLUTION – To be able to take a new chance, maybe you will need an upgrade. So, learn something new. Take your time and learn a new skill, language or simply try to work in a new field of business. It will help you see the bigger picture and avoid the same patterns.

#3 RESOLUTION – O, yes – patterns. It’s so easy to slip into the routine and run the same race every day. It’s safe and it will work well. But are you really fine with just well? We didn’t think you are. So, change the way you do the work. There are is a very interesting book called “WHEN” by Daniel Pink. It will help you create new and better habits and get rid of the old ones. Maybe you will find a new daily dynamic, who knows.

#4 RESOLUTION – Find your balance. Remember, you are not your work. It is something that you are skilled in, so you can make the money with it. The other part of your life needs you too. To be able to accomplish everything, you need your life balance first. Don’t avoid your private life and hide behind the higher goals.

#5 RESOLUTION – Just be happy with yourself. Grow and learn, so you can go further. Explore and be curious, so you can dream. Don’t bother with everyone’s opinion, just with ones that really matter.

The first Festival of Illustration in Serbia was organized by the Whole in One communications in partnership with the Belgrade Fortress, and CEBEF (Belgrade Festivals Center) and it took place from the 23rd until the 31st of May 2019.

In May 2019, we had a chance to be part of the first Ilustrofest exhibition of illustration in Belgrade, Serbia. For that occasion, we participate with several of our previous works – illustrations in packaging, City sketchbook project, and People project.

The exhibition was placed at Kalemegdan, in front of the “Cvijeta Zuzoric” gallery and it hosted 80 illustrators from all over the World. We were among them.

At the closing ceremony of the festival, on May 31st, “Momo Kapor” Fondacy awarded us with special recognition as the best illustrator of the Festival. It was our great pleasure to be one of the exhibition participants and get this wonderful recognition.