Exemplar Coffee
Exemplar
Our first venture project as a studio was taking Exemplar from an idea on a notebook to an experiential specialty coffee production shipping worldwide. Alongside our good friend Phil Magowan, we designed, wrote, edited, sourced, named, packaged, taped, delivered and managed as much as we could get our hands on.
Inspired by the unexplored, ever-changing world of coffee.
2024
F&B
Belfast, UK
Exemplar Coffee
Coffee for the curious
Concept
The entirety of the brand’s focus is on being at the top of the game – an exemplar output at every turn. Influenced by traditional printsetting and the design approach of the industrial era, we knew the brand had to feel like it was going to last forever.
Pairing strong and bold type-led designs with salmon paper seemed a no-brainer. To further enhance the softness and tactility of the brand, we designed a semi-translucent rice paper bag for the coffee beans to mimic the matte effect of the magazine. A modular design system followed, bringing together similar outputs and crossovers in print design, stickers, packaging, socials and more.
Every bag of coffee sold is often just that – a bag. We knew Exemplar had the opportunity to go much, much further than just being a nice bag on a shelf.
We spun ideas out, trying many concepts until we landed on a box + sleeve combo, something that felt like opening a shoebox. The magazine fits perfectly flush in the box, with enough space for 2 bags of coffee.
Throughout the process, we got our hands dirty with every aspect – from coffee cuppings, roast profiling, even to a video call with Rwanda’s Department of Agriculture; making sure if something happened with the brand, we were there.
Process
We had to turn the brand into one that lived and breathed. We knew the experience of the product started with the unboxing, so we spent a lot of time getting that right. The zine was a natural progression of the content and information we had gathered with each coffee, and the collaborative nature of the project brought ideas together across many stations.
Mostly, our process kept us close to Phil, where we knew tight-knit working would get better results and more consistent output.
We believe this is the most out-of-the-box coffee experience on the market. Do us a favour, and grab a box at exemplarcoffee.com. You won’t find anything better.
“I felt like I had a concrete vision when I first approached Hundred Studio – I knew what I thought I wanted. We created something I never could have imagined beforehand. They listened to me give the lay of the land, then helped me reimagine its boundaries.”