Atypical is a specialty coffee roastery based in Saigon, Vietnam. They offer both retail and wholesale coffee products that combine selected local and imported flavors with a meticulous high-quality brewing method. Their key product, the cold brews (aptly named “Atypical Dose”) offer a wide range of flavors and blends, named after neighborhoods of Saigon, for people with all kinds of tastes and preferences.

As a design team of Vietnamese residing in Saigon, our challenge was to create a concept that speaks to its authenticity without being kitsch or cliché. We created their visual identity, combining the rawness of Saigon street culture with the refinement of the brand’s product. Inspired by the facade of the city, Atypical’s visual design prominently features a custom typeface inspired by the iconic “Khoan cắt bê-tông” (“Concrete drillers”) vandalism often seen around the street walls of Saigon.

The main surfaces of the brand’s packaging system & collateral feature photographic images of the walls found across Saigon, something that is familiar yet, upon closer inspection, utterly peculiar.

For the cold brew packaging, we feature iconic walls from the neighborhoods that the flavors are named after; and we tell the stories related to those neighborhoods, with the hope to bring the city closer to our drinkers. Utilizing HP Indigo’s latest technologies, each label design is transformed into a series of assorted, collage labels that speaks to each individual fragmented perception of the city we inhabit.