La Colombe RTD Packaging

Client

La Colombe Coffee Roasters

Agency

Soulsight

Role

Designer

Background

La Colombe has grown from a single café in Philadelphia, to a nationally known coffee brand.

After starting with a single café in Philadelphia, La Colombe Coffee Roasters grew into one of the pioneers of third-wave coffee, providing signature coffees to cafés, hotels, restaurants, and retailers around the world while owning and operating several cafés across the U.S. Most notably, La Colombe has made waves with a variety of popular and innovative ready-to-drink (RTD) canned cold brew coffee beverages, including the Draft Latte—the world’s first ever textured cold latte in a can.

Brief

Update La Colombe’s well-known ready-to-drink Draft Latte cans to increase clarity and shoppability on shelf.

With increasing recognition and demand for their RTD beverages, La Colombe wanted to re-energize their can design to increase standout on shelf, enhance clarity and navigation, and create a visually intuitive flow that informs and inspires shoppers—in essence, elevating the best of the brand.

The client was interested in a type-forward, rather than art-forward, approach that would convey elegance and grab attention by establishing “badge-ability” for the brand, all while fitting within the La Colombe family and complementing the existing Cold Brew look and feel.

Previous can design

Solution

Through design exploration, the client made it clear that they were keen on keeping a predominantly white pack as their unique identifier in the canned coffee space. Our final solution maintained the strong impression of the white can while cleaning up details for a crisper and more elevated presence.

By establishing a clear system for flavor and dairy cues, we created a seamlessly shoppable system where customers could more easily understand what’s what on shelf and quickly grab what they’re looking for.

Extendable system

Our design solution established clear rules and guidelines for how type and color would communicate flavor and variety in the draft latte lineup, like La Colombe’s Oat Milk Draft Latte. This design system would be easily extendable for future flavors and non-dairy combinations, like other alternative milks, tea-based lattes, and even seasonal varieties.