Dark Matter Coffee’s long-established core brands–Unicorn Blood, A Love Supreme, Starry Eyes, and Machete–make up the foundation of their Portfolio Blends and are diehard fan favorites. (If you know anything about Dark Matter, it’s that they are continually pushing the boundaries of coffee while still consistently nailing the classics.) After many illustrious years without a design update, these four coffee bags were due for a reboot. Cue the mind-bending, galaxy-hopping, sci-fi-centric, creative brief.
Ever the visionary company, Dark Matter framed up the rebrand to Zmmr with a dual purpose: to captivate new customers with unstoppably beguiling visuals, and to retain their existing, loyal customers who had come to know and cherish their favorite coffee bean packaging. The cherry on the top–to make these designs a category disruptor.
Staying true to Dark Matter’s playful, unconventional spirit was another mandatory. So for this project, we did a deep dive into research. We developed rich stories behind each of the four blends complete with complex, layered visual references, out-there symbolism, and detailed color palettes. After identifying all these elements, we worked closely with artist Raul Urias to craft the intricate illustrations shown on the final bags. Every design element on the package ties back into the overarching portfolio story, that of a New Worlds Fair–a fantastical vision of the future of coffee and possibly, dare we say, the planet.
- Creative Director
- Jim Zimmer
- Design Director
- Jessica Zimmer
- Associate Creative Director
- Nathan Weaver
- Illustrator
- Raul Urias
- Photographer
- Richard Gary
- Retoucher
- Adam Grimshaw
