About the client and the goals of the project: The coffee roasting company Znak Coffee was founded in 2015. For a long time the company worked in the B2B market, and in 2020 the team had big plans to enter retail with a new product – 3-in-1 coffee. Znak Coffee team came to us for help with this task.

With the client’s team we decided to move forward, and the first stage of the project was a strategy session.

Coffee culture in an accessible format:During the brand session, we realized that the client’s team wanted to give the audience a chance to try trendy coffee drinks and discover new tastes with a simple and accessible format. Discussing the motives of customers, we also realized that people buy 3-in-1 coffees to treat themselves, replace a more caloric dessert with a cup of coffee, save money, lift their spirits in the morning or after a hard day at work, or just to satisfy their curiosity.

Coffee culture, a new taste experience, alternative, variety, affordability – all these meanings formed the basis of future creative design.

Meet Joe Black

The second stage of the project was naming: One of the variants we suggested was Joe Black. The client chose it. In this version, we played up the theme of black by making it a lastname. That’s how we got the brand character, Joe Black. Joe is also the slang American name for coffee.Like the brand itself, it has a mood and character, which gives a vector for conceptual developments.

Diving into a fantasy world: Together with the client, we decided that we wanted to bring something fresh into the market, to give the consumer a new emotion with an interesting and unusual visual. As a result, we created a fantasy design, revealing the magical world of coffee. The world of Joe Black.

Joe Black is a guy with a light-hearted soul who welcomes friends into his coffee world. In fact, his name appears in the logo – without a hint of coffee. With its bright lettering, the logo gets attention without detracting from the illustrative subject matter.It becomes a constant that confidently holds up the entire product line.

The fantasy illustrations combine the themes of music, sports, art, active lifestyle and the love of coffee. Depending on the product, the sticks have a different storyline and color scheme. Each drink is assigned a main character. We made the characters distinctive, personified, close to the portraits of the target audience.

This kind of coffee line wants to collect, tasting every product of the brand. The series reflects the drive, lightness and freshness inherent in coffee and everything associated with it.

Summary: Joe Black is not just a fictional character. Joe Black is a whole world of coffee, filled with moments and experiences, in which the consumer is immersed. It is also the small joys and discoveries that can always be shared with Joe Black.