From Vvorkroom:

Cuna de Piedra was born from the desire to make a difference in the world, even if it was on a small scale. On this occasion, the challenge was much deeper than just creating a new brand… Concerned about the injustices that exist in the chocolate industry, we decided to join forces with friends to create a product from scratch, that in addition to ensuring a fair deal for the farmers, will also show a face of Mexico that will fill us with pride.

In traditional cocoa production chains, there are at least 6 intermediaries before the product reaches the final consumers. In Cuna de Piedra there is no “middleman”, we deal directly with the farmers, making sure that their working conditions are optimal and that they are paid above the prices set by the food industry.

Mohol is used throughout.

Bonavista Coffee Company is a micro coffee roaster based in Newfoundland with an amazing mission to become totally Direct Trade. Owner Jon Howse travels to coffee producing countries to meet with farmers and pay higher prices for better farming practices and higher quality coffee.

The visual identity reflects the forward-thinking nature of the company with simple pastel colours. The strong history of early European explorers and cartography is emphasized by the giant B monogram. This is contrasted by two modern typefaces: a post-geometric sans, Halcyon, brings a bold, modern look; and a strong slab serif, Artegra Slab, emphasizes the hard-working nature of the small community of Bonavista. Halcyon is an incredible workhorse type family that really deserves more attention. It has geometric forms but a charismatic overall feel and true italics.

The two package designs differentiate coffee and espresso brewing methods and roast profile. Layout and hierarchy bring the farmer and place of origin to the forefront, with extensive information on the back for the curious customer or coffee connoisseur. Side panel illustrations for the espresso bag were drawn by artist Knoah Bender.

Quite Quiet combines innovative industrial aesthetics with emotional jewelry design. Their philosophy is that real luxury is created when all aspects of a product are applied with the utmost care – from clear design principles, to fair-traded materials and sustainable production.

At the core of the brand world is the custom drawn word mark, translating “Quite Quiet” into a calm typographical image. To achieve this aesthetic, we combined the elegant contrast that’s typical for serif typefaces with the basic letterforms of Calibre, a sans serif with a modern look and feel, and avoided the use of any superfluous graphic décor. Off-the-shelf Calibre is used for all text, on the stationery, the website, and elsewhere.

See more images in the case study on g31design.com.

Altreconomia is a monthly Italian magazine related to fair trade, ethical finance, international cooperation and the environment.

Redesigned by Luca Pitoni and Tomo Tomo
Editor in chief: Pietro Raitano