Recently, we have been invited by DesighRush to participate in their article “The Best Frozen Product Packaging Designs“. Our packaging design for CFruit was chosen to be listed among other wonderful designs from all over the world. It’s a great honor to be in such good company.

Big THANKS to the DesignRush expert team for choosing us. Also, a very special THANKS to the CFruit team for a great collaboration. It inspires us to be better and create more beautiful projects.

Recently, we had a great pleasure to be included in the new issue of Creativver Packen Magazine. We shared our experiences with designing coffee packaging for several new brands from all over the world. Here is the entire article for you to enjoy.

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.

The holidays are over, and it’s time to start a new business year.

Whether we admit it or not, we’re all a little superstitious about new beginnings. We want to start the year on the right foot, hoping that it will bring new opportunities, exciting projects, and maybe even a few dreams come true.

If you’ve already written your New Year’s resolutions, great! If not… shame on you! Don’t be tempted to copy last year’s list. Grab a notebook, open your laptop, or simply use your phone, and start from scratch. There must be a mountain you’ve always wanted to climb—a goal that would make you proud once you finally reach it.

For entrepreneurs, creating that list can be particularly challenging.

There are always things you have to do—and usually twice as many things you want to do. Finding the balance between responsibility and ambition is never easy. Somehow there’s always another book to read, another personal project to finish, or another idea worth exploring.

So how do you make peace with that?

#1 Work on the things you love.

Let’s be honest—sometimes you simply have to take projects that pay the bills. We’ve all been there. But don’t stop looking for opportunities that genuinely excite you. Those are the projects that allow you to grow, do your best work, and remind you why you chose this profession in the first place. Success isn’t measured only by income. Sometimes enjoying what you do is just as valuable.

#2 Learn something new.

Every new opportunity begins with learning. Take a course, learn a new language, develop a new skill, or explore a field you’ve never worked in before. Looking beyond your everyday routine helps you see the bigger picture, discover fresh ideas, and avoid falling into the same patterns.

#3 Break your routine.

Speaking of patterns… It’s surprisingly easy to repeat the same routine day after day. It’s comfortable, familiar, and usually gets the job done. But are you really happy with just getting the job done? Try changing the way you work. Even small changes can make a big difference. If you’re looking for inspiration, I highly recommend “When” by Daniel Pink. It’s an insightful book about timing, productivity, and building better habits. Who knows? You might discover a daily rhythm that works much better for you.

#4 Find your balance.

Remember—you are not your work. Your profession is something you’re good at. It’s what allows you to earn a living. But life exists outside your office too. Spend time with the people you love. Make room for hobbies, rest, and moments that have nothing to do with deadlines. The better your balance, the better your work will become.

#5 Be kind to yourself.

Keep learning so you can keep growing. Stay curious so you never stop dreaming. Listen to advice, but don’t let every opinion determine your direction. The people whose opinions truly matter are usually the ones who know you best—and, most importantly, the voice that reminds you why you started in the first place.

Have a wonderful New Year, and don’t worry if everything doesn’t happen at once. One small step in the right direction is often enough to start climbing that mountain.

Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to work with many entrepreneurial businesses. Whether they’re launching a new brand or introducing a new service, they all face the same challenge—how to position themselves in the market. Most entrepreneurs start by looking at the competition and thinking, “We can do better than this.” Then they try to create their own promotional materials, only to receive average—or sometimes disappointing—feedback.

Why does that happen?

You’re starting your own business. Your budget is limited, and there’s no investor waiting to finance your dream. Every decision comes from your own pocket, and that’s something worth respecting. Like many entrepreneurs, you’ve probably heard horror stories about advertising agencies charging thousands of dollars for work that didn’t meet expectations. So you decide to do everything yourself and save the money.

It seems like a sensible decision. But saving money isn’t always the same as making the right investment.

You can’t do everything on your own and expect professional results in every field. To pull that off, you’d have to be a superhero—and even then, there wouldn’t be enough hours in the day.

So, what can you do?

Instead of struggling on your own or immediately turning to a large advertising agency, consider working with a small design studio—another entrepreneurial business that understands exactly what you’re going through. Share your story. Explain where you want your business to be in a year or two. If you understand each other, you’ll know it almost immediately. The collaboration will feel natural, and you’ll grow together. If you don’t, you’ll know that too.

It’s a bit like a first date. The chemistry is either there, or it isn’t.

So, do your homework. Look for people who care about your business as much as you do—people who are passionate about what they create and genuinely want to see your brand succeed.

The best partnerships aren’t built on the biggest budgets. They’re built on shared trust, honest communication, and the excitement of creating something meaningful together.

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.

Do you love your job?

It’s a simple question, and there are countless articles trying to answer it. But let me ask it differently. Do you genuinely enjoy what you do every day, or do you spend half your working hours daydreaming about being somewhere else? You might be surprised by how many people quietly choose the second option. So why am I writing about this? Because I spent eighteen years working in advertising agencies.

A few days after graduating from the Academy of Applied Arts, I found my first job. My original plan was simple: spend ten years learning everything I could, work with different clients, gain experience, and then decide what came next. Of course, life had other plans. Especially when you’re making plans in Serbia.

My ten-year plan somehow became an eighteen-year one. Looking back, it was an incredible journey. I never stopped loving design. But somewhere along the way, I realized I no longer loved the environment I was working in. That left me with a difficult question:

What was I willing to sacrifice—my health or the career I still cared about?

There had to be another way. To create meaningful work, you need more than a desk and a computer. You need the right environment. Not just an office, but people who inspire you, a creative process that allows ideas to grow, and enough time for those ideas to mature before they’re judged. Looking back, those last two were often missing. And eventually, I understood where my stress was coming from.

I was constantly working. But I wasn’t creating. Or at least, I wasn’t creating work that felt worth the energy I was investing. Even when I produced something I was genuinely proud of, it sometimes never reached the client. Decisions were made long before the work had a chance to speak for itself.

The salary was good. But there are things money simply can’t buy. The satisfaction of creating something meaningful. The joy of enjoying the process, not just surviving it.

A year ago, I made one of the biggest decisions of my career. I left the agency and started my own design studio. Not because I wanted to stop designing. Quite the opposite. Because I wanted to keep loving design for many years to come. I knew I needed a different way of working—one that valued not only the final result, but also the creative process itself. Looking back, it was the right decision. So let me ask you that question one more time.

Do you love your job?

If the answer is yes, hold on to it. Protect it. If the answer is no, don’t ignore that feeling forever. No salary is worth sacrificing your mental or physical health. Life is too short to spend every Monday morning wishing it were already Friday.

If you’re going to keep telling yourself: “I CAN do it”, make sure you’re saying it about something that still brings you joy.

For me… it’s just another play-day.