Ardal Coffee Roasters
A roastery moving from wholesale into retail shelves, and an identity that had to survive being printed on a bag.
The brief
Ardal had spent four years selling to cafés, where the bag is a box in a stockroom and nobody reads the label. Retail is the opposite. On a shelf, next to eleven other bags, the label does the selling before anyone tastes anything.
The existing mark was drawn for a website header. Enlarged to 90mm on kraft paper it filled in, and the origin information was set so small it was unreadable at arm's length.
Design it at 12mm first. Everything larger takes care of itself.
What we did
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Brand strategy
Positioning between the supermarket own-label tier below and the specialist roasters above, with a clear reason to cost what it costs.
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Logo system
A primary mark, a stamp for small applications, and a single-letter version for the lid of a tin.
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Colour and type
One core colour plus a rotating origin colour, so the range reads as a family without printing four separate brands.
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Label system
A grid that takes a new origin without redrawing anything: name, roast date, tasting notes, weight.
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Print artwork
Files supplied to the printer's spec, with a proof cycle on real kraft stock before sign-off.
How it was done
- 01 Step 01
Shelf audit
Photographed the aisle the range would sit in, then set the constraints from what actually stood out at two metres, rather than what looked good on screen.
- 02 Step 02
Mark and stamp
Drew the identity small before drawing it large, so the tightest use case set the level of detail everything else inherited.
- 03 Step 03
Origin system
Built the label as a fixed grid. Adding an origin is a colour swap and three lines of copy, not a design job.
- 04 Step 04
Print proofing
Ran the artwork on the actual kraft stock. Two colours shifted and one weight of type disappeared. Both were fixed before handover.
Handed over
Everything below is owned outright, in editable and print-ready formats, with the source files.
- Primary logo, stamp and single-letter mark
- Colour palette with print and screen values
- Type scale and pairing
- Label grid for the full origin range
- Print-ready artwork, checked with the printer
- 24-page brand guideline
- Social templates for launch
- Editable source files
Meridian Clinic
A private healthcare booking journey that lost people at the final step.
Tell me what
you're
building
A few lines about the business and what you need is enough to get started. Small businesses are what this studio is built for, and you will hear back from me, not a sales team.