SOLO CO. COFFEE
Client | David Solorzano & Dillon Walker
Creative Direction | Micah Samuelsen & Asher Henson
Creative Strategy | Asher Henson
Design | Alison Koehler
Voice | Asher Henson
Solo Co.
Solo Co. exists to highlight the one-of-a-kind diversity and quality of coffee in Southern Arizona. Started by one professional baker and another guy who loves coffee too much, Solo Co. is the only place in Tucson featuring and celebrating multiple local roasters under one roof.
The Opportunity
After David Solorzano (the baker half of Solo Co.) and Dillon Walker (our CEO and the other half of Solo Co.) received funding to start their multi-roast adventure, Hydrant came on board to create the brand.
We immediately saw our ticket to originality in a saturated sea of Southwest coffee shops:
Solo Co. is the only multi-roaster in town.
The Discovery
The Competition
— Coffee shops are about as abundant as cacti in Tucson, so we wanted to give the brand enough leverage to shine in an overly saturated market.
The Physical Space
— Most of the coffee shops in Tucson are centered around bicycles and bicycle culture. We saw an opportunity to work on the interior design of Solo Co. to expand the brand language, even within the shop itself.
The Multi-Roaster Challenge
— Because Solo Co. sells beans from other local vendors, our brand had to look original among many different labels, and it needed to stand out in any form of application (packaging, in-store, online, etc.).
Our solution? Joe.
Joe
This character gives Solo Co. its originality without taking away from the product or service. They can walk through coffee how-tos on the back of packaging. They can greet users on the homepage. They can even be animated for a YouTube video. Regardless of the application, Joe is here to provide consistency, personality and originality.
Production
We worked closely with David and Dillon on the messaging side to finalize Solo Co.’s mission statement, values and overall voice. This voice implies Solo Co.’s expertise in the industry, while being warm, accessible and slightly witty.
Once we established the voice, our Senior Designer Alison Koehler created Solo Co.’s visual brand language. This started with creating our pal Joe and nailing down a simple word mark. After that, we identified secondary playful elements for pizazz and possibility (and stickers). We also used Solo Co.’s messaging to inform our grounded, organic color palette without relying on the stereotypical southwestern oranges and pinks.
The Results
The result is an expansive brand that is able to grow alongside Solo Co.:
— Wordmark transforms for different purposes and uses
— Character (Joe) exists as a visual personality and connecting thread
— Secondary elements and patterns can expand as the brand grows
TBD
Along with building out brand deliverables and developing a launch strategy, we’re currently in the interior design phase of the project and working to match Solo Co.’s final brand to the physical space.
