Branding and souvenir for a premium coffee roaster: corporate identity, layout system and pre-press preparation

The initial situation is that a small coffee roaster sells beans in retail and by subscription, now the packaging and merch are assembled from different styles and contractors, which is why recognition suffers and there are constant errors in printing - incorrect offsets, different blacks, Pantone mismatch, unreadability on craft materials. We need to collect a single visual language and transfer it to a set of packaging and souvenirs ready for production.

Subject area - FMCG packaging and branding in the printed environment. Technical environment - Adobe Illustrator/InDesign, if necessary Photoshop, working with Pantone/CMYK, prepress, preparing files for printing (digital and offset), accounting for various media - kraft cardboard, matte film, foil stamping, silk-screen printing on textiles.

What to do
1) A short audit of current materials - logo, colors, fonts, packaging, tags, stickers, merch - identify reproducibility problems and suggest 2 directions for refining the style without a complete rebranding
2) Finalization of the logo and sign - prepare versions for small sizes, monochrome, embossing and silk-screen printing, determine security fields and minimum sizes
3) Color system - approve a palette linked to Pantone and CMYK, rules for craft printing, permissible deviations and substitutions, separate settings for deep black and small text
4) Packaging layouts - a line of bags for coffee 250 g and 1 kg with a valve and a zip - 3 SKU layouts (classic, limited, decof) with variable fields for composition, roasting date, QR, barcode; prepare templates so that the manager can change texts without shifting the grid
5) Souvenirs and POS - design and pre-printing: stickers (50 mm circle, 90x50 rectangle), bag tag, A6 gift card, shopper (1 color silkscreen), T-shirt (2 colors), mug (layout for pad printing/sublimation), paper bag, barista badge; for each medium - separate technical requirements and layout versions
6) Mini-guide 8-12 pages PDF - rules for using the logo, colors, fonts, grid, examples on media, what not to do

Restrictions
- We do not change the brand name and the general character of the logo; careful modification of geometry and typography is acceptable
- The design should be equally readable on craft and white materials, as well as with single-color printing
- You cannot use images with a license that requires renewal or attribution on the media; Only commercial licenses with transfer to the customer or completely original graphics are acceptable
- You need to complete 2 rounds of edits after choosing a direction

Result
- AI/INDD, PDF/X-1a and PDF/X-4 sources for printing, PNG/JPG previews, do not transfer font files - instead, format the text in curves where required
- The package of files is structured by folders - Logo, Brandbook, Packaging, Merch, POS, Prepress

Acceptance criteria - measurable
- All layouts are preflighted in Acrobat - there are no RGB objects, font errors, missing links, there are 3 mm overhangs and a safe-zone of at least 5 mm for critical elements
- The logo is provided in at least 6 options - full color, 1 color, inversion, for embossing, for small sizes, the sign separately - and can withstand printing/embroidery at a width of 18 mm without loss of readability
- Templates with variable blocks of text have been prepared for packaging, which can be replaced without breaking the grid and without leaving the safe-zone
- For each souvenir carrier there is a separate technical sheet in one PDF - size, offsets, color, recommended materials, printing method

The customer will provide current logo files, photos of products and packaging, texts, a list of SKUs, contacts of 1-2 printing houses to verify requirements.