Anna Nelson

Cowpoke.



Cowpoke Coffee + Co. is a coffee roaster and cafe based in Logan, Utah. 




This brand is an homage to the American West, and of course, the cowboy. Because canned goods were such a popular way to keep food on long cattle drives, every cowboy’s go-to breakfast was a cup of coffee. Cowpoke has that same rough and ready feel, without sacrificing high quality.


The custom wordmark alludes the the sharp edges of barbed wire, and can be shortened down to the “C” which doubles as a horseshoe, or the “O” which resembles a spur. These and other lockups and symbols make the branding very flexible for adaption to a variety of products, from ground coffee to creamer.





Primary Logo







Secondary Logo







Supplemental Lockup








Symbols






Brand Colors





















Motifs like the spur, the cactus, and the horseshoe appear throughout the branding and act as small nods to the identity.

In the ground coffee packaging (left), I used the spur shape to create a pattern imitating the bandana, a staple in any western ensemble. Abstracting the idea of a paisley pattern into just one repeating shape is one example of how this branding endeavors to honor Cowboy culture in a simplified way.

The brand colors compliment the brand assets with a “plein air” feel, reminiscent of sunrises, mountain ranges, and wide open spaces.

While working out the mockups and other assets that would reflect how this brand functions prior to moving into production, I considered how the brand would need to feel through its imagery. I found that warm tones, natural materials like wood, and other grounded elements were best to enhance the design. This made moving from digital to print and packaging far easier because the final output was already worked out in the mood board stage, and again at the mockup stage.