Ruby Coffee Roasters
While at Knorth Studios, I worked closely with Ruby Coffee Roasters on various brand projects as they continued to grow as a roastery. This included packaging, merch, and signage for their brand new cafe in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.
Ruby Roasters is known as an ethical roastery in the coffee world, and had found their niche in quality-driven cafes in the US. While the company was growing quickly and selling primarily online, it was time for a brand refresh that would be able to grow with them. This started primarily with the packaging, the most important point of contact for customers.
We designed a new biodegradable package system for their coffee, incorporating hand-drawn textures and minimal text to reflect the inspiration that Owner Jared drew from their rural home-base: Nelsonville, Wisconsin.
The rough, parallel lines represented the flow of water in the area, as well as the rolling hills and sudden changes in elevation in this unique area of the midwest. We also wanted to reflect the quiet quality that Ruby offers by utilizing negative space wherever possible, letting the logomark shine on the front of the package. We also created a unique color system, a la “Colorful Coffees”, to distinguish different roasts, countries of origin, and farms.
Ruby opened it’s first cafe in Stevens Point, Wisconsin in 2019. We were able to continue the brand refresh by designing the external signage, food and drink menus, and other little items in the space that would lend itself to Ruby Cafe’s warm and welcoming atmosphere.
Over the course of my time at Knorth, I was able to team up with the Ruby team and create some fun merch items like waterbottles, coffee mugs, tumblers, sweatshirts, tees, totes... all the goodies. ︎
Credits
AD: Ann Kennedy
Photos: Christopher Bartlett
Styling: RT Vrieze & Ann Kennedy