Challenge
After more than 30 years as a leader in the organic, fair-trade coffee space, Dean’s Beans came to us for a refresh of their retail coffee bags. As our team developed new packaging, we found ourselves on a journey that wound up solving for a larger assignment — a collaborative reimagining of how Dean’s Beans is able to effectively tell their story, propel their mission, and help empower communities around the world. We recently designed a nitro RTD can for Dean’s Beans looking to expand their product offerings, which helped launch them into the cold brew aisle, marking a key step in their evolving cpg marketing strategy.
Solution
We wanted to honor the company’s 30-year history of brand equity with peace, love, and coffee. Aesthetically, we chose colorful, hand-illustrated patterns inspired by Dean — specifically the 60’s spirit of love and unity — to amplify the brand’s reputation as a funky but focused specialty coffee roaster on a mission for progressive change. Using concentric patterns, we focus the consumer’s eye on a hand offering up a coffee cup, as a nod to the partnership required to the coffee beans from seedlings to brew. Leaning into Dean’s Beans’ brand equity, we leveraged illustrative hands as a storytelling device. The heart-shaped gesture evokes a sense of love and connection that resonates with the Dean’s Beans audience on a deeper level. This new coffee packaging design aims to embody the soul of the brand, combining our expertise as a packaging design agency with cpg brands insights to create a compelling visual that speaks to their loyal customer base while also appealing to new consumers.
