Luxury Coffee: Popular Coffee Bean Growing Countries

Upon researching the origins of coffee due to the importance to the consumer I discovered the following regions that I found interesting/where known for producing premium coffee according the the British Coffee Association (see figures 1-4):

Côte D'Ivoire:
The coffee grown in Côte D’Ivoire (the Ivory Coast) on the west coast of Africa, Robusta, is a stronger flavoured bean containing more caffeine than the higher altitude grown Arabica. Coffees from the Côte D’Ivoire are strongly aromatic with a light body and acidity.

Ethiopia:
It is believed that the Arabica coffee tree originated in Ethiopia where some may still be discovered growing wild. This country produces some of the world’s most unusual coffees.

Guatemala:
The southern half of Guatemala is dominated by the Sierra Madre. The high mountain range creates a perfect climate for coffee cultivation. In extreme weather conditions, Guatemalans burn rubbish near the plantations, a cultivation process developed by German immigrants. The dense smoke protects the trees from frost. This produces a smoky flavour in the beans.

India:
Although long associated with tea, India is one of the world’s oldest coffee growing nations. During the early 1600's a pilgrim to Mecca, whose name was Baba Budan, smuggled some coffee beans out of Arabia, concealed in his robes, and grew them in India.

Indonesia:
Production came early to Indonesia when the Dutch introduced coffee growing to Java in the mid-seventeenth century. The heavy, rich flavour of these coffees carries through the addition of milk or cream.

Jamaica:
Blue Mountain coffee is coffee from the eastern parishes of St. Thomas, Portland and St. Andrews, produced at over 5,000 feet above sea-level. Increasing demand has resulted in the scarcity of this unique coffee and this is reflected in the price, which is higher than average. Blue Mountain coffee is one of the most popular high end coffees in Japan with around 80% of its production being exported there. 

Kenya:
Kenyan coffees are famous for their bright, lively flavours, rich aromas and high quality.

Peru:
The climate and soil structure in Peru offer tremendous possibilities for producing fine coffee.

Tanzania:
The local coffee, named Chagga, is produced by the Wa-Chagga people living and farming on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. It was discovered by Mr H.R. Higgins just after the end of the Second World War. He was attracted to the full bodied flavour, which is less acidic than Kenyan coffees. However upon further research this area doesn't appear to produce as higher quality beans compared to other regions. 

Vietnam:
Vietnam is the second major coffee producing country, providing 20% of the world’s coffee. Nearly all coffee grown in Vietnam is of the Robusta variety. One of the most expensive and sought-after coffees comes from Vietnam – ‘caphe cut chon’ or ‘fox dung coffee’ – made from coffee beans that have been eaten and ‘passed through’ the civet cat (which looks like a fox). However upon further research I discovered animal cruelty issues surrounding the production of this coffee as the beans have to be retrieved from the feces of the civet cat, resulting in cases of animal cruelty. 

Yemen:
The world’s oldest cultivated coffee is grown on mountain terraces at altitudes exceeding 4,500 feet. The coffee is grown using rainwater irrigation, dried naturally and without the use of chemicals. Yemeni beans are characterised by their medium to full body and overtones of chocolate and cherries.

Zimbabwe:
The Chihosa Estate is situated in the eastern highlands of Zimbabwe at 5,600 feet above sea level and has been run, since 1990, by the Cugnet family. The coffee has a rich, full character with mild acidity.

As a brand needs to be developed as part of this brief I've chosen to explore the regions in which coffee beans are grown to identify those within the luxury coffee market. Furthermore this research has provided me with insight into the history of the production of coffee within these areas providing interesting research point which can inform the design process. The most interesting areas I've found are India, Ethiopia and Guatemala as these are regions known for producing high quality beans. Further research into these areas will be conducted to decide which will feature with the brand as this will allow me to discover more about the coffee industry including which is more popular with the consumer.

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Luxury Coffee Brand: market research

Premium Coffee Market:
According to the Financial Times (see figures 1-2)  the premium coffee industry is growing as 'consumers seek better tasting coffee as well as a “connection” with the plantations behind the beans.' Coffee drinkers are becoming more concerned with the origins of coffee such as the growth of the beans and the roasting process than ever before, meaning premium beans from Latin America and Africa can be sold at a higher price. 

'Last December, Café Imports, a Minneapolis-based premium coffee importer which supplies high end roasters in North America and Europe, paid as much as $2.50 a pound for high quality coffee produced by growers in the highlands of Cauca in southwest Colombia.' (Financial Times (2017). Coffee connoisseurs boost high-end market. [online] Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/1339094a-8e3d-11e3-98c6-00144feab7de [Accessed 27 Dec. 2017].) 

Consumers are also becoming more and more concerned with the social impact of the coffee such as if beans are ethical sourced and grown. Furthermore research suggests despite the strong cafe culture in the uk more consumers prefer drinking coffee at home as according to Mintel 'half (51%) of coffee drinkers prefer to drink hot drinks at home rather than out-of-home, including 55% of men and 47% of women' (see figure 3). 

Reflection:
As both men and women seem to equally enjoy at home coffee the luxury brand must be gender neutral attracting both men and women based on the quality of the coffee. This research has highlighted the importance of the ethical issues associated with coffee such as the ability to recycle waste and eco-friendly packaging. Furthermore due to the established nature of the at home drinks market more research into competition will need to be conducted too identify what consumers find most attractive. 

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Luxury Coffee: 50 Initial Ideas

50 Initial Ideas:

• matt metal 
• colours for different roasts 
• blonde, white or silver 
• medium, copper 
• dark, matt black 
• embossed 
• square container 
• cilinder 
• size, big or small
• sealed bag inside, preserve roast with sealed tin lid 
• materials used in existing products:
• paper
• card 
• sealed foil lined paper bags 
• ground or beans
• patters, abstract taken from brewing process 
• gold lettering 
• luxurious 
• smooth 
• reflect characteristics of coffee 
• etching 
• simple
• focus on process/production options
• creative packaging 
• shape of bean 
• cup 
• press 
• tins fit together as a set 
• colours or pattern to identify series/set
• bag inside tin
• just metal or paper label 
• classic 
• clean 
• modern 
• appeal to all
• work alone and as a set 
• stamp/seal of approval on packaging or lid
• san serif type 
• bold
• sophisticated 
• individuals in a set, fit together within a container 
• how look on shelf 
• engaging 
• appeal to audience 
• play on luxury connotations 
• refill packs so tins are bought once and reused
• resealable pouches 
• tin could be reused to store coffee filters 
• shiny metal for dark roast to reflect oil residue on bean 

Student Starpack Awards

Studio Brief 1:
Luxury Coffee Brief:

To design and develop a new, exciting and eye-catching range of at least three tins for either teas or coffees. Students will need to create a fictitious brand targeting the quality retail sector, including duty free areas at airports and the higher-end retailers such as, John Lewis, Selfridges and M&S. This new range is to be designed primarily for purchase as a luxury gift pack. Metal offers great potential for creative design solutions with not only embossing and debossing but the high quality of print finishes that can be achieved with colour, varnishes and bare metal.

Consider when designing your range (minimum 3 in range) marriageability as a set of three and that the labelling, graphics and overall presentation ensure they are a family of luxury products.

When developing your designs consider re-usability of the tins for a secondary use within the home.

To meet food standards, the contents (tea, coffee or infusions) would if going into production be sealed separately in foil bags and presented in the secondary pack.

Points to consider:

• Creative use of tin
• Marriageability as a set of three luxury tins
• Innovative use of decorative and graphic elements
• Re-usability as a secondary pack
• Shelf impact
• Consumer appeal as luxury gift packaging

Materials to use:

The set of tins must use tinplate as the core element but your models can be made of any appropriate material to represent the metal components. Similarly, any appropriate material can be used to represent the tin contents.

Analysis:

• sophisticated 
• consistant 
• explore the limitations of metal 
• work on own and as a set 
• re-usable 
• eye-catching on shelf
• fit within luxury stores 
• creative packaging 

Zine: Rational and Action Plan

Penguin: Design Development

In order to further develop my initial ideas I've combined the use of the turtle illustration to reflect the tone of the book with the more aesthetically refined idea of using a constellation from within the book on the cover. Figure 1 incorporates the two turtles within the cover which works well as is not overpowered by the strength of the constellations. In relation to figures 2-3 the implementation of black and white allows the patterns to stand out more effectively than in previous experimentations, however the pattern in figure 2 overpowers the copy due the contrast. However the contrast works well in figure 3 as the opacity of the shells has been lowered slightly to allow the copy to be more legible. In comparison to other experimentations these are weaker as the experiments looking at creating the illustration out of stars are more successful. The use of creating the turtle out of starts to replicate a constellations allows the conceptual aspect of the design to be shown effectively whilst still creating a visually effective outcome (see figure 5). This idea was inspired by figure 4 which looked at simply placing the illustration within the constellation featured within original experiments. Figure 5 shows the simple illustration which on its own lacked impact leading to the incorporation of larger stars within the points of the illustration (see figure 6). This allows definition to be given to the illustration allowing to stand out within the cover. However I felt the cover lacked something which lead to the development of featuring more stars surrounding the illustration which creates the impression of a constellation in the sky creating a more balanced cover. I plan to pitch my developed ideas in order to gain feedback on which is most successful, allowing the chosen on to be submitted to the competition. 

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Penguin: Research and ideas

In order to further develop my initial ideas in order to produce more conceptual and relevant designs I started by reading The Brief History of Time in order to find interesting aspects within the book that could be incorporated within the designs (see figure 1). One of the most interesting aspects of the book is the examples given to explain some of the complex theories within the book such as ping pong on a train to explain the concept of time/movement. Furthermore I found the beginning of the book particularly interesting as it details a lecture in which a women stood up and declared that the world was flat and was held up on the back of a turtle. This was interesting as Hawking used the anecdote to question why we (as scientists) think we know better and what we actually know which sets the tone of the book as Hawking's discusses the scientific breakthroughs over time and how what we used to think was true has drastically changed.

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Interestingly when reading through the book I discovered a quote '3 quarks for muster mark' from Murray Gell-Mann who discovered and named the particles that make up protons and electrons, quarks. Due to this discovery I experimented with featuring it on the cover (see figures 2), with initial experiments looking at repeating the quote to represent the multiple quarks that make up a proton/neutron, with the colours being taken from different flavours of quarks red, blue and green. However I felt there wasn't much room to develop or expand upon the initial idea in figure 2 as flipping the quote on its head had little conceptual relevance and failed to improve the design itself. This lead to the development of experimenting with circle of colour inspired (see figure 3) by the simple shape of quarks within a proton (see figure 4). However although this experimentation references the diagrams I research I felt they looked too primitive and uninteresting, failing to reflect the brief itself. Furthermore when I gain peer-to-peer feedback on these initial experiment students agreed that they where generally uninteresting and would attract them to read the book. Throughout both experiments Futura has been used as when feedback was gained on initial experiments many agreed that Futura worked well on the cover as it created a modern aesthetic to the covers whilst till referencing space.

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Upon reflection of the experiments above I decided to explore the less traditional aspects of the book that I found interesting, specifically the comment at the beginning of the book 'the world is really flat supported on the back of a giant turtle'. I found this interesting as Hawkings uses it to question what we know and what we've discovered which is both relevant to the scientific breakthroughs of today and those discussed within the book. This lead to the development of the implementation of an illustration of a turtle within the cover, I didn't want to feature a flat version of the earth as I wanted to reference the book in a more subtle manner than just recreating the phrase itself. Consequently leading to a simple line illustration of a turtle being featured across the font and back cover, the size of the illustration being inspired by the quote 'giant turtle'. However I felt that the placement of the copy in figure 5 needed editing in order for it to become more legible, so it could be easily read on a shelf of on screen. As a result in I moved the copy into the spaces around the turtle in figure 6 to allow both the illustration and the copt to become more visible, also having the the title and Stephen Hawking at a larger point size allows the key information to be clearly visible as I feel customers will be more attracted to the book when they know its written by Hawking as he is such a well known physicist especially among the younger generation. The balance between making the reader aware the book is by Hawking and aware of the title was important, as although I wanted Hawkings name to be clearly visible, the title took precedent to accommodate those who may already be aware and are looking for the book specifically. The use of white and green allows the illustration to stand out without obstructing the copy as featuring a coloured background looked too heavy and distracted the viewer from both the illustration and the copy (see figure 7). In order to explore the use of the illustration more within the cover I experimented with different placements of the turtle. Figure 8 showcases the turtle more predominately, with Hawking's being the focus of the spin in order to entice a wider audience. Although this experimentation showcases the turtle more clearly I feel its quite basic and other experimentations are more successful. Furthermore after experimenting with one illustration I decided to repeat the pattern  as when the women who shouted the quote was questions she said it was turtles all the way down (see figure 9). Additionally the pattern also draws people to the book as from a far you can't distinguish what the pattern is made of, this realisation reflections the discovery within the book and the journey the reader goes through as they discover new things. Furthermore the pattern doesn't take attention away from the copy as the black typography overpower the complex nature of the pattern allowing both aspects to work with each other.  Due to the complex nature of the pattern I developed the pattern to just feature the shell of the turtle in order to create a more abstract reference. Separating the shells so they are more spread out allows for the pattern to become more visible from a far as well as creating a greater impact on the viewer. Figure 11 features a smaller version of figure 10 which is more successful as it creates a more abstract representation of the original repeat pattern in figure 9 without distracting from the copy which happens a little in figure 10. Overall I personally feel the most successful experimentations are figure 6 and 9. However I plan to develop these experimentations further by looking at my original ideas to see if they can work together within one cover.

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Penguin Book Cover: Author and Book Research

Steven Hawking is a world renowned theoretical physicist, mathematician and international best selling author, also known for having a fantastic sense of humour. Hawking was the first to set out a theory of cosmology explained by a union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, being a vigorous supporter of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. Hawking's has written multiple books, the most noticeable being A Brief History of Time which has been developed and released over time, with 5 editions being printed. This development reflects the tone of voice within the book as Hawking's discusses scientific discoveries over time. Furthermore 'turtles all the way down' is an expression of the problem of infinite regress which Hawking's uses at the beginning of the book to set the tone of voice based on the developments in science. The saying relates to the mythological idea based on a turtle that supports the earth on its back, which suggested that this turtle rests on the back of a larger turtle which itself is part of a column of increasingly larger turtles. Despite contracting motor neurone disease in 1963, and being given two years to live Hawking's has gone on to make significant and ground breaking discoveries within theoretical physics despite his disability. Furthermore Hawking's never let his disability effect his humour or ability to work and teach with the use of his interface, connected to his wheelchair which allows him to communicate, write lectures and teach. The interesting fact about this interface is that its controlled by Hawking's moving his cheek to make certain commands, this interface allows him to create lectures, Skype friends and speak.

Penguin: Visual Research

In order to start developing ideas and designs for a brief History of Time I started by looking at existing covers to see what already existed and how these worked both online and in-store. A lot of the existing covers are very similar with some (see figures 1-2) looking quite outdated and unattractive to a younger audience due to the use of bold typography and colours used within the covers. Furthermore the heavy focus on the copy of the text gives a more textbook like aesthetic to these covers which further discourages a younger audience. Other covers I found (see figures 3-4) where also quite similar but had a more modern aesthetic due to the use of imagery within the covers, however these covers appeared to attract an older audience, those of middle age due to the use of a serif typeface and the dark colours used. The layout of these covers further adds to the modern aesthetic due to the space created allowing the audience to focus on the visuals rather than the copy itself. Furthermore these covers work well online as all aspects are clearly visible however I think they would be more effective in-store due to the stock and processes used during printing. Both figures 5 and 6 feature different approaches to the covers with figure 5 focusing on time itself which is discussed within the pub however I feel this cover doesn't accurately reflect the tone or content of the book plus aesthetically it looks quite outdated which fails to show the groundbreaking nature of the book. Figure 6 however is more modern and simple, representing the book in a more abstract manner then previous covers. The use of negative space and simple use of bold colours allows the copy to stand out without being the made focus. This use of colour also creates a more intriguing cover as it forces the reader to pick up the book to discover more about it as its not necessarily shown in the cover. In addition the use of white space and a sans serif typeface further add to the modern aesthetic, attracting a younger audience without alienating an older one. This abstract representation is something I plan to experiment with within my designs as I think it creates a more interesting and engaging design.

 

Zine Collaboration: Evaluation

Overall the zine (see figure 1-2) fulfils the brief as the gap between the image and blocks of colour emphasises the fact that a section of the photo has been removed. This allows the concept of the book to be emphasised as the publications look to make fun and highlight the ridiculous poses made by tourists at different attractions, which take attention away from the attraction itself as people are more concerned with taking a funny photo rather than admiring the photo. Furthermore a solid consistency through the zine has been achieved by taking colours from the sky of each photo allowing for a colour scheme to form. Consistency was an initial concern of both Olivia and I when developing the zine due to the different shapes and sizes of the photos used, however the use of colour allows an element of consistency to be form which is further enforced through the front cover which features a colour form within the zine. However despite these successful elements the print quality is quite low due to low toner in the digital printer within the digital print facilities, this is further hampered by the low resolution of the images due to them being screenshot of Instagram posts (see figure 3). When I went back to increase the resolution of each photo a test print was conducted which showed that even with the increase in resolution the photos where still pixelated. This is an issue that could only be solved by starting the design again and finding the original images on Instagram again to see if they could be downloaded. However this wasn't possible due to time constraints as the zine needed to be ready for Olivia's module hand in, furthermore we didn't have access to the Instagram names of all the photos used meaning they couldn't be re-visited. Overall I'm pleased the design of the zine fulfils the brief by showcasing the poses made by tourists, however feel the production quality of the zine could be increased if more time was available.

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Zine Collaboration: Production

As part of Olivia's role within the collaboration she handled the production, printing and binding the zine. In relation to my role within the production process, I finalised the pagination of the zine making sure the dialogue (least to most popular attractions) was correct so the printing process would be simple and straight forward. However upon reviewing the final zine (see figure 1-4) we both felt the quality of the photos was too low (see figure 4), leading me to increase the resolution of each image in Photoshop too see if this would improve the quality of the print. Despite increasing the resolution when a test print (see figure 5) was completed in digital print the resolution didn't improve, resulting in the first zine being used for submission. The low quality of the photos is attributed to the photos being screenshot of Instagram posts as this was the only way Olivia could gain content that was relevant to her other COP work to make the zine relevant. Therefor if more time was available we could go back to each post and download the images to see if this would increase the quality further, however due to the time pressure (two days) and the need to be ready for Olivia's deadline this was not possible as it would of taken Olivia too long with the added disadvantaged of not having each images Instagram name being some couldn't be found.

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Zine: Visual Inspiration

In order to gain some visual inspiration I've looked at existing books that take a humorous approach to certain topics such as Read This If You Want To Be Instagram Famous (see figure 1) and Little Book of Foreign Swear Words (see figure 2). I look particularly at these publications (see figures 1-4) as take a simple approach to design allowing the subject matter inside to speak for itself. This is something we discussed incorporating within the zine due to the different shapes of the images, we wanted the layout to be simple so it would work with the content. Furthermore I wanted to look at both Read This If You Want To Be Instagram Famous and Read This If You Want To Take Great Photographs Of Places (see figure 3-4) as they're both centred around similar topics to the zine I will be designing, as these books where discussed when we we're discussing the approach to the zine, due to the humorous connotations within  This If You Want To Be Instagram Famous . However the zine we will be producing has the opposite content to that of the Read This If You Want To Take Great Photographs Of Places as the photos featured within the publication are not great and are quite low quality, which provided us with an interesting juxtaposition as we wanted to take a simple approach to layout but still make the publication look like a zine.  

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Zine Collaboration: Olivia Parr

Brief:

Create a photo zine based on photos taken from Instagram featuring photos taken by tourists which have had the attraction removed. 

Initially the Olivia contacted me via email (see figure 1) after some discussion via text, in order to explain the brief and provide visuals (see figures 2-3) to help inform initial ideas and designs for the collaberation. This allowed me to prepare some layout experimentations before the first meeting in order to be able to discuss and develop the zine quickly due to the limited time available (one day).

Once Olivia showed me the initial visuals she had used as part of her COP module, I developed some designs based on Oliva's initial ideas in relation to having a photo per page (see figure 4-5). However upon discussion we developed the idea of creating the zine in a square with full bleed images (see figure 6) as inspired by the photos themselves which have been taken from Instagram. I also experimented with highlighting the missing attraction by picking a colour from the photo featured on the page in order to create a contrast to show the missing section of the photo.

Upon discussion of our initial ideas, both Olivia and I really liked the implementation of the square and colour blocking in order to highlight the concept of the photos. This agreement allowed for the design processes to develop quite quickly as once the photos had been selected for the publication I could organise them based on the dialogue we created consisting of organising attractions by least to most popular based on the number of photos for each attraction. Experiments with incorporating the caption of the photo, as suggested by Olivia, at the beginning of new set of attractions. However this was hard to consistently implement due to the different shapes of the photos due having the attraction removed. Initially we tried to incorporate the caption into the pose of the tourist (see figures 7-8), however we felt this was to much of a gimmick so tried to incorporate the captions in the bottom left to replicate the placement of Instagram captions, however as the images where full bleed the text got lost within the photo (see figure 9). As a result it was decided to leave the captions out of the zine and focus solely on the images. Further experiments consisted of including a gap between the colour block and photo (as suggested by Olivia) and a version without, both of which where discussed to determine which to print (see figure 10-11). As a result of reviewing both option we decided that the one with gaps would be printed as this defined the photos more. In relation to the cover (see figure 12) I chose to feature a colour from one of the photos in order to keep a consistant colour throughout the book as all the colours within the blocked out sections have been taken from the sky in order to create a consistent theme within the publication due to the different shapes and colours within the photos themselves.

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