Coffee · Working together since 2017
Borealis Coffee
— since 2017, one line
The challenge
Borealis didn't need decoration. It needed a face — something simple, confident, and consistent enough to hold the brand together as it grew from one coffee bag into cold brew cans, a five-year anniversary edition, and a full merch line.
The face
Their logo was already black and white. I lean toward graphic, high-contrast illustration anyway — line work that reads like an old woodcut, not a cartoon. The match was obvious from the first bag: no colour needed to make coffee look confident.
A bear, drawn like it was carved into the label, did more work than a palette ever could.
What stayed,
what changed
Stayed — since 2017
Black on white, or white on black. Engraved line work, never a cartoon. The bear stayed a bear; the technique stayed the technique.
Changed — everything else
One bag became a range. Cold brew cans went blue and green. A five-year anniversary edition brought in teal and deep blue — without breaking a single line.
That's the system: a rule disciplined enough to survive any surface, and loose enough to let the range grow into it.
The world
Then it left the bag entirely. Travel mugs, ceramic mugs, hoodies, t-shirts, a tote — the same visual language, printed instead of packaged, and still recognisably Borealis from across a room.
The result
Since 2017, and still running — the last order came in this April.
The range grows by sticker. A new flavour arrives on the same master design, printed and applied, without a new label being drawn. That is why there are so many of them, and why not one of them broke the brand. Nine years, one visual language, no redesign.
“Always my favorite designer! We've built a brand image together over the past 10 years. This project further solidifies our brand. Thank you for being so creative, talented, and responsive. See you on the next project!”
Borealis Coffee Company
Want one of these
for your own range?
Tell me what you're making and what comes after it. I'll tell you which chapter it is — and if it isn't a fit, I'll say so.