From the invention of the Flat White to hosting the world-class Melbourne International Coffee Expo (MICE), our city continues to set the benchmark for coffee culture, quality, and creativity. With world-class roasters, champion baristas, and a café on nearly every corner, Melbourne’s coffee industry is both thriving and fiercely competitive. It’s no surprise that some of the most design-forward, story-rich coffee brands are born right here.
As a Melbourne-based brand and graphic design studio, we’ve partnered with a dozen coffee businesses across Australia—from boutique roasters to established café chains. If you’re in coffee, you’re not just selling a product—you’re creating an experience. And that experience starts with how your brand looks, feels, and communicates.
Here’s how to visually craft a coffee brand that rises above the rest.
It Starts With Who You’re Brewing For
Before we get into aesthetics, let’s talk about your customer. Branding that connects starts with knowing who you’re speaking to. At our studio, we use a version of our 3V Brand Strategy to help clients get clear on their:
- Vision: What role does your brand play in people’s lives?
- Voice: How do you want to sound and feel?
- Visuals: What should people see, and what should it say about you?
Are your customers casual, grab-and-go drinkers? Suburban coffee connoisseurs? Environmentally conscious sippers? Design-savvy millennials who care as much about the packaging as the pour-over?
Once you’ve nailed that, your branding style becomes more than just a visual—it becomes a message.
1. Minimalist: Clean, Confident and Intentional
Minimalism is more than a visual trend—it’s a brand attitude. It communicates clarity, restraint, and professionalism. When done well, it gives the sense that everything has been considered, and nothing is accidental.
Brands like Market Lane nail this effortlessly. Their soft pastel colour codes, structured label system, and understated typography are a masterclass in refined, functional packaging. Coffee Supreme takes a similar approach with its Swiss-style grid and bold, primary accents—creating shelf recognition without shouting. Allpress Espresso, meanwhile, opts for warm neutrals and minimal copy, proving that you can feel premium and accessible at the same time.
We worked with a client who wanted their brand to feel like a moment of calm in a noisy world. We stripped away decorative graphics, leaned into material texture and subtle embossing, and let the white space do the talking. The result? A brand that felt confident, grounded, and serious about quality.
2. Inspirational: Coffee as Creativity, Ritual and Connection
Coffee often marks the start of something: a new idea, a creative burst, a good conversation. If your brand stands for more than just caffeine—if it’s about inspiration, emotion, or culture—then your design should reflect that.
Take Seven Seeds, whose branding and storytelling is rooted in transparency, ethical sourcing, and community. Their identity is quietly confident, modern, and thoughtful. Then there’s Bench Coffee, whose minimalist-but-artsy packaging reflects the gallery-like feel of their cafés. Everything is polished, almost editorial—perfect for those who see coffee as part of their creative ritual. Core Roasters go the opposite way, leaning into playful illustrations and vibrant colours. Their bags feel like art objects, encouraging drinkers to explore, collect, and share.
We once helped a client position their brand as the “first spark of your day.” We designed packaging with hand-drawn linework, quiet affirmations, and illustrations of daily rituals—from morning journaling to quiet sunrises. It wasn’t just coffee—it was motivation in a cup.
3. Elegant: Premium Experiences Deserve Premium Design
There’s a growing market for luxury coffee—and I’m not talking about pricing. I’m talking about brands that offer a refined, elevated experience from the fit-out of the café to the packaging on the shelf.
Toby’s Estate is a great example. Their dark, moody palette and refined serif typography instantly communicate depth, quality, and tradition. It’s a look that says, “We’ve been doing this for a while, and we do it well.” One of our favourite projects in this space was with Le Yeahllow, a boutique patisserie and coffee brand that needed their packaging to match the elegance of their product. We built a visual identity around the idea of being “elegantly playful,” combining soft palettes, modern serif logotypes, and luxury uncoated stock. The result looked right at home in a premium department store or on a curated brunch table.
If your product is positioned as a high-end experience, your brand must reflect that. Cheap labels on brown bags just won’t cut it.
4. Eco-Friendly: Branding With Purpose (and Proof)
Today’s coffee drinkers are increasingly conscious of sustainability—and they expect brands to be too. It’s not just about using recycled bags. It’s about showing your values clearly and consistently across every brand touchpoint.
Puzzle Coffee does this exceptionally well with 100% compostable packaging and natural fitout on their stores. Their packaging often features quotes like “One café, one change at a time”—an immediate emotional connection that reminds people they’re part of something bigger.
We helped one eco-minded client build their entire brand around the idea of a closed-loop system. From home compostable coffee pods to refillable jars made by local ceramicists, every detail told a sustainability story. And we made sure that story was front and centre—using bold statements like “Good for your brew. Better for the planet.” across all packaging and digital touchpoints.
Being eco-conscious isn’t a niche anymore—it’s expected. Your design needs to show that you’re doing more than the bare minimum.
Final Pour: Branding That’s Worth Brewing For
Melbourne’s coffee scene is a battleground of quality—and branding is your secret weapon. Whether you lean towards minimalism, emotional storytelling, elegant luxury or sustainable purpose, the strongest brands know who they are, who they serve, and how to show it.
Great coffee deserves great branding. And in this city, the competition is too strong for anything less.
Let’s Build a Coffee Brand That Stands Out
From roasting room to retail shelf, our studio specialises in crafting coffee brands that are bold, intentional and unforgettable. Whether you’re just launching or ready to scale, we’d love to help you shape your next chapter.
👉 Contact Courtney Kim Studio and let’s brew something extraordinary.