Empowering Culture Through Coffee

Agency: Widarto Impact
Creative & Art Director: Eko Widarto
Project Manager: Dian Rifiyani
Graphic Design: Fajar Septian Effendi
Illustrator: Doni Hariyanto
Location: Indonesia
Project Type: Produced
Client: ESCO Coffee
Product Launch Location: Indonesia
Packaging Contents: Coffee
Packaging Substrate / Materials: Aluminium foil coffee bag
Printing Process: Flexography

Indonesia is the 4th coffee exporter in the world. One of the countries that has the most coffee variants, one of which is the most popular is Gayo coffee, Sumatra. Gayo coffee is one of the best coffee varieties that has received recognition from foreign observers, especially from members of the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE). They call it the world’s best coffee, from aroma to great taste.

This is one of ESCO coffee’s visions to elevate Indonesian coffee to the international market with a brand, not just a commodity.

DESIGN PROCESS
Talking about Indonesia again means talking about culture. Indonesia consists of 34 provinces which have their respective cultural characteristics. This cultural abundance is what inspires us to communicate it through coffee, or it can be called introducing Indonesian culture through coffee. This will be at the heart of the design we create for ESCO. With an increasingly modern world, ironically many modern societies forget their local culture. We want to promote Indonesian culture through coffee according to the area where coffee is located, for example; Gayo coffee, illustrated by the stone jumping culture in Nias, Sumatra. We want consumers not only to get good quality coffee, but also to get the aesthetic value of art by knowing the culture where the coffee comes from. It is more authentic and not owned by other brands.

CHALLENGE One of the initial challenges was that the client wanted a trend-following design, for example a minimalist design, typography, etc. We educate clients that there are many minimalist designs on the market. If the packaging is placed on the same shelf, how will this brand be seen by consumers? Everything looks similar, so that the unique product that sells Indonesia’s best coffee is overlooked. Since the client only sells Indonesian coffee, our idea is to elevate Indonesian culture through coffee brands. This is also a brand value, a brand image that cares about local culture, the hallmark of a nation.

PACKAGING DESIGN PURPOSE
The goal of the ESCO packaging design is to increase consumer awareness of Indonesian coffee and local Indonesian culture. Not only in Indonesia, but also in the international. With marketing in Asian and Middle Eastern countries, this also allows the potential of the international community to visit Indonesia. We present local culture in packaging with unique, modern, and different abstract illustrations. This will be a special attraction so that it can increase the interest of potential consumers to buy ESCO products.

THE FLAVORS OF CULTURE
Each coffee-producing region has its own cultural characteristics. This makes it easier for us to distinguish each coffee variant by illustrating the regional coffee culture. For example, the Reog Tradition represents Javanese Coffee, the Balinese Tradition, namely Legong and Barong Dance, represents Blend Cotton Candy Coffee which is formulated from a combination of Kintamani Bali Coffee, Stone Jump Tradition from Nias, North Sumatra represents Gayo Coffee which also comes from Sumatra. This illustration is created as a differentiating value with most coffee brands, to encourage emotional buying when potential customers see it.

Local wisdom will never be achieved if we do not protect and preserve it. This is a challenge for brands to be able to strengthen local wisdom through brands.

What’s Unique?
The uniqueness of this design is that we present the uniqueness of Indonesian culture with abstract illustrations. This is a strategic value in itself compared to other coffee packaging designs. We try to break out of trends and create authentic works that are memorable.