Package designing is not as easy as one might think. The graphic artist will have to think of many parameters that will be appealing and approach the prospective client to make proposals because that will give him a competitive edge.

Although I have never worked the job market, I am a trained as a graphic artist too, so I can appreciate why diversity as well as creativity would be a key to success. Not all of the graphic work is image based. The customer has to be satisfied with the packaging material that is chosen and how the package is folded if he leaves this up to the designer. The client would want to know the difference between a caffeinated or pesticide free coffee product and those which are not.

Recently I had a chance to participate on designing a package for an espresso brand of coffee. Years of drinking coffee brought to mind successfully marketed brands but the group I was with wanted a contemporary approach. It was in our interest to look at existing brands and see how companies have been presenting their products. There were the Italian varieties like Lavazza that showed the familiar small cup on a solid colored background.

Tazza Doro did the same with its brand. Using a bold white background framed with a gold leaf and brown border. Other more contemporary designs put words into images such as Seattle coffee that illustrated a view of Mount St. Helen from the city that people could identify with. Another package from Beach Blend showed an image of a beach on its package. The color combination on the Seattle brand was soothing to the eye and would probably contribute to this product being alluring.

We were in the process of comparing the artistic process behind the label and we wanted to know how other companies advertised their specific niches such as being ecologically conscious for example. Since we had the opportunity to design caffeinated and non-caffeinated brands it came to mind that all we had to do was change the color of the package and put the additional script of caffeine free on the package.

Then we noticed the Eagle brand with the logo of an American Eagle that had a striking similarity to the American coat of arms. Perhaps there was a subliminal attempt to induce the purchase of this type of coffee because of the similarity of depicting the great bird. The Blue Mountain approach was a little different.

Instead of picking a particular view or working on symbolism, they got their idea from the appearance of the familiar burlap bags that are used to ship coffee bulk and that coffee lovers can sometimes see at cafes that roast their own coffee. So the backdrop on the paper package had this image of a pseudo-burlap bag. If on the other hand we wanted to refer to a specific ethnicity, we could have learnt something from the New Mexico variety that had a red seal with a picture of a cup in it. The red seal seemed to suggest a Mexican art style.

We were also conscious of creating an appealing font and kerning so that the letter type would not appear to be bunched up and the information on the package would be easy to read. One does not have to use the standard times font; the centennial font for example proved to be eye-catching on one brand. And then we wanted to know if the type would be bold or not. So we appreciated the standard Maxwell House variety with its Times Roman font that was especially clear and bold. I always loved to see that final drop, synonymous with years of providing good flavorful coffee.

We decided to opt out for a particular type of coffee, shade grown and used a dark green backdrop to signify the canopy of the forested area where that type of coffee is grown. We were not concerned with a high yielding coffee plant. We were concerned with a coffee product that would require a minimal amount of pesticide and respect the surrounding environment.