003: BUILDING THE BRAND, PART I
If I were asked to list three things I love doing most, I would struggle to chisel it down and instead give you my Top-5 list, which includes (in no particular order):
Brand Building
Really Good Coffee
Behind-The-Scenes Content
Cool Merch / Product Design
Meaningful Moments / Interactions
As the initial pieces started to come together around conceptualizing Cottage Coffee, (which I touched on in the previous posts, “002: A Thing For Coffee” and “001: Introductions”), this was one of those rare projects where I could do whatever I wanted.
No client or boss would need to approve anything. I mean, I always run things by my wife, Kendra, and get constructive feedback from friends, but this was something personal to me that I could experiment with, craft, and share as a piece of my story.
I'd like to invite you all on this journey With ME.
The first step for me was to gather as much insight, inspiration, research, resources, and assets as possible.
For me, that started with combing through old family photo albums, mounted film slides, camcorder footage, and iPhone photos.
From there, I needed to get my thoughts and ideas out of my over-analyzing, day-dreaming head onto paper. Or in this case, a screen.
Essentially, I had to create a pitch deck to prove to myself that this concept had legs beyond being a personal, nostalgic passion project. It needed to be a real business opportunity, not just a pipe dream.
After establishing these initial building blocks, I shared them with Andrew during a regular touch-base meeting at Morningsong Coffee.
My next step was to work on the branding elements (fonts, logos, colors, etc.) and then the packaging design.
This part can take months after multiple rounds of revisions. But by now, it was early May, and I didn’t have the luxury of time.
If this was ever going to get off the ground, I needed to coat-check my perfectionism at the door.
Iterate.
Fail fast.
Iterate again.
Keep Moving.
After a mad dash to get enough of the brand elements figured out, I had to immediately start working on the packaging design.
If this were a relay race, I just finished the first lap and am handing off the baton to myself for the second lap!
Offering a metal tin was one of the first elements of the brand I wanted to launch with, so I started there with a few samples from Roastar, whom Andrew introduced me to during the bag design process for Morningsong Coffee.
While nothing about these prototype tins and labels are perfect, they will be GOOD ENOUGH because we’re heading Up North to shoot a mini-campaign with a group of friends Up North at The Parcel.
More from that content trip and the next round of revisions COMING SOON!
