Incafé Coffee Limited

Channelling the spirit of the Incas.

Incafé is a combination of Inca and Café, so the logo demanded a degree of ambiguity as to how it was read.

Client

Incafé Coffee Limited

Project

Brand Creation & Packaging

Location

New Plymouth, New Zealand

Year

2006

-

2011

Role

Creative Director, Designer

Agency

DNA Design

Category

Coffee Production

Contributors

Joop Verbeck – Client
Jamie Hodgson – Client

Brand Signature

Brand Story

Creative Direction

Packaging Design

Strategy

Most coffee producers who establish roasteries rely on multiple sources for their coffee beans. Our client had been a frequent visitor to South America and really loved the type of beans grown in Peru; high altitude Andean landscapes with dry air that produce a distinct bean with an even more distinctive flavour. Our clients also fell in love with the people there and wanted to offer the coffee farmers something back, they wanted to build personal relationships with them, and make sure they were being paid fair prices for their crops.

They decided to go all out on what it meant to be Peruvian. The people are passionate and vibrant. Therefore "Love. Coffee." became the brand’s heart.

Drawing inspiration from Peruvian art and architecture, "Inca Fé" (Inca Spirit) emerged as the name, with the logo echoing their strong geometric patterns. The typography played a double role: "Inca-Fé" for the spirit, "In Café" for "In Coffee."

Our focus for the visual aspects of the brand were drawn from Peruvian culture, the vivid geometric forms that come from their fibre arts; the very things that keep them warm while toiling in the thin air to grow coffee.

Based in New Plymouth, Inca Fé quickly took off in local cafes. The distinct proposition resonated with customers. The combination of the rich visual narrative and the rich coffee blends they created got an immediate cult following.

The packaging design relied on two key components; the geometric illustrations and the pixelated colour grid that defined each variant or flavour.
We delineated the smaller packs from the larger ones through positioning of the illustrative elements.
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In visually crowded shelf space, packaging has to function as quickly as roadside signage.
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The visual expression and tone and manner all came together in a simple and colourful typographic delivery.
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The proposition ‘Love. Coffee.’ became the emotive entry point all communication executions came from.
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We created a distinctive alphabet to use across their communications that drew on the same geometric forms as the rest of the brand system.
We wanted to link the ideas of passion to coffee, and created a conversational tone that expanded on that.
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We made sure every touchpoint reflected the company’s love for producing good coffee. For them it is an obsessive thing – they really would be doing it for the love of it.