Ilé Coffee Roasters

Why I made it

Specialty coffee has a way of making people feel like they ordered wrong. I wanted to design a roaster that feels like a neighbour's kitchen that just happens to roast very, very well. Ilé is Yoruba for "home", and that word did most of the strategy for me.

How I got there

1. 1

   The doorway is the bean

   The mark is an arched doorway with the crease of a coffee bean cut through it. One shape, two readings, no explanation needed. Once that clicked, the arch became the whole system: the shop sign, the wrap pattern, even the cut-out on the bag.

2. 2

   Keep the accent honest

   The wordmark is 'ilé' in lowercase Fraunces, accent included. Dropping it would have been easier to typeset and wrong to the language.

3. 3

   Cherry is a spice

   Espresso and chalk carry the brand. Cherry, leaf, crema and kraft support it, and cherry stays at around 12% so it always feels like an occasion.

4. 4

   Colour tells mood, not quality

   One bag layout, three grounds: chalk for bright and floral, cherry for fruit-forward, leaf for deep and sweet. Only the origin, tasting notes and roast dots change, and batch data sits in mono so every bag feels traceable.

5. 5

   Talk like a neighbour

   'Come in. Your seat is warm.' 'Pour-over, no wahala.' Each line is written next to the stiff corporate line it replaces, so the team can see the difference, not just be told about it.

6. 6

   Sweat the boring details

   The bags have a crimp, a tear line, a valve and a batch sticker. The receipt uses real Naira formatting and correct 7.5% VAT. Details like that are what make a fictional brand feel like somewhere you could actually walk into.