Overview
Candid Coffee Co. aims to be their customers’ one-stop shop for all of their cold brew coffee needs. Whether it be ordering cold brew at the new taproom itself or from the online store, customers would have a cohesive experience that felt true to the Candid brand — convenient, fun, and made from West Palm Beach with love.
Problem
Candid needed various digital and print designs to incorporate their new branding, especially the website and merchandise packaging. Because Candid Coffee Co. is a passion project for the owners, ease of maintenance and accessibility were the main concerns to keep external costs low. Additionally, many Candid in-person customers were visiting tourists, so creating an experience that emulated their sunny West Palm Beach vacation from online, right in their own home, was a fundamental problem to solve.
Photo provided by Candid Coffee Co.
Research
The client wanted to keep their website on the Shopify web-builder platform because they were already familiar with it. The research included looking into Shopify’s capabilities and theme-builders and existing subscription coffee brands like Verve Coffee and Partners Coffee for layouts and “mood."
When looking at other coffee brands, these questions came to mind:
1. How are coffee brands guiding customers to buy their coffee online?
1. How are coffee brands guiding customers to buy their coffee online?
2. How do their products look within the website against the other elements?
3. How do the website and product packaging convey their brand story?
4. How do you take the energy of the "to-go brew" and turn it into "home-brew?"
Photo provided by Candid Coffee Co.
Digital
Website
The chosen Shopify theme has long containers that are perfect for showcasing large images and videos. These long containers can also be easily edited and filled with photographs or colors with little room for error. Photos that advertise Candid’s new physical storefront and new custom illustrations grab the spirit of sipping a Candid cold brew on West Palm’s beach. Other coffee brands seem to dull and neutralize their branding online to contrast with their merchandise. But Candid doesn’t water down their flavor on- or offline.
The chosen Shopify theme has long containers that are perfect for showcasing large images and videos. These long containers can also be easily edited and filled with photographs or colors with little room for error. Photos that advertise Candid’s new physical storefront and new custom illustrations grab the spirit of sipping a Candid cold brew on West Palm’s beach. Other coffee brands seem to dull and neutralize their branding online to contrast with their merchandise. But Candid doesn’t water down their flavor on- or offline.
Scroll through here!
Menu Display
Another important digital component is the menu display. Again, the goal was to design something that wouldn’t clash with the taproom’s vibrant mural wall and was simple enough for client upkeep. The clients are comfortable photographing and editing their own drink photos, and having clear sections on the menu makes interchanging text and drink images easier to manage. Furthermore, flat illustrations that mimic the main branding give the menu a cohesive look while having the potential to be easily changed or used in other products.
Another important digital component is the menu display. Again, the goal was to design something that wouldn’t clash with the taproom’s vibrant mural wall and was simple enough for client upkeep. The clients are comfortable photographing and editing their own drink photos, and having clear sections on the menu makes interchanging text and drink images easier to manage. Furthermore, flat illustrations that mimic the main branding give the menu a cohesive look while having the potential to be easily changed or used in other products.
Print
The coffee bags are designed to be fun, eye-catching, and a caffeinated postcard from Candid to consumers’ homes. To add a more personalized and authentic touch, there's space for Candid to physically write "best by" dates and whether the beans are ground or whole. There are two complementary versions of the bags — one for Candid’s cold brew packets and one for roasted coffee beans — with inverse colors to distinguish the two from each other. The roasted coffee bags have different colored Candid icons in the bottom right corners to further differentiate the four flavors. While the entire label’s colors could be changed to further separate the different coffee beans, the coffee bags have a singular recognizable color scheme and design to limit competition with the website. However, deviations from this color scheme will also be reserved to highlight future specialty blends.
Reflection
Overall, the implementation of Candid’s new branding across their website and product packaging was successful stylistically. However, on my list of improvements would be to do user surveys about the coffee packaging, user testing on the website, review their web analytics, and make needed changes to improve clickthrough and purchase rates.
