coffee design: scp sprudge article

coffee design: scp sprudge article

(Originally posted on Sprudge)

Coffee and breakfast: two great tastes that taste great together. Make a coffee that looks like breakfast? Now you’re speaking our language. The Sunday Coffee Project out of Portland, Oregon makes a splash with its stunning cereal-box inspired packaging—and it’s making us want to go back for another bowl!

Tell us about the Sunday Coffee Project – how did y’all get started?

The first time the idea for Sunday Coffee Project (aka SCP) was vocalized was March 2021. One thing the pandemic afforded us, was perspective and urgency to take chances on things that mattered to us.

I think we were cleaning the kitchen after the kids were in bed and I (Aaron) just casually pitched the idea to my wife (Ryley). “What if we started roasting our own coffee?” She said something like “Sure. Why not?” It was as casual as that.

From there we came up with a name and got our branding underway. The hilarious part looking back is that at this point, I had yet to roast coffee besides a couple of batches in my garage on a home roaster. I was able to lock in an hour a week at a shared roasting space where I began the process of roasting a couple batches a week, cupping, making adjustments, and watching lots of YouTube tutorials in between. By the first week of October, our online store was open and thankfully, we’re a little over 7 months in and excited about what the future has for SCP!

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You debuted your cereal box packaging in August—who designed it?

As soon as we decided to launch SCP, there was only one artist that I wanted to work with. Sloan Brown (@drakecereal). I’ve admired their work for a while and am fortunate enough that they agreed to bring SCP to life.

Tell us about the design process—how long did it take to complete?

If I had one piece of advice for anyone, it’s get you a designer like Sloan. It takes a very special person to be able to read through and decipher the creative brief I wrote. 

From the outset knew I wanted to do several different boxes with unique colors and characters. I also wanted it to be playful. Something that my kids would want to pick up and look at.

We finalized a color palette, and then began working on character concepts. Our kids love the Mr Men books and the Richard Scarry books, so we pulled a lot of inspiration from them and finally landed on what you see now.

The idea to take the box from just a box to a cereal box came about a month into the design. I was having breakfast one morning when i realized that cereal and cartoons were a staple of my Sunday’s as a kid and thought it could be fun to tie that into the brand. Honestly, I almost didn’t tell anyone about the idea because I wasn’t sure how well it would be received, but I’m glad I did!

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Describe the look and the information contained on the box itself.

Each box has its own color and character. On the front of the box, you’ll see our favorite bridge in Portland in the top left. As well as a sticker in the top right containing info about the coffee inside.

On the right side panel, you’ll see a checklist of Sunday activities. The checklist is a play on what would normally be the nutrition facts.

On the left panel, we have a word search. Below that, you’ll see an alarm clock with the time 19:77—we’re big fans of the Portland Trailblazers—homage to the year the Blazers won their only championship.

Finally, on the back, each box as a game/activity. As well as a QR code to our website to mimic a bar code.

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Where is your coffee available?

Our coffee is available on our website as well as some local cafes like Lionheart Coffee Co(Beaverton, OR).

What other products are you currently selling?

We currently sell apparel, and have the last few of our diner mugs on the website!

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What’s next for Sunday Coffee Project?

We’ll continue to grow the coffee side of our business, and we’re also wanting to produce more apparel and lifestyle goods. We recently bought a screen printer, so we’ll be doing as much apparel in house as we can and exploring how far we can take this!

Thank you!

Photos by Xristian Tjakra (@itsxris) provided by Sunday Coffee Project.

Coffee Design is presented in partnership with Savor Brands. Explore Coffee Design archives at our exclusive Coffee Design hub. 

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