Overview
Every adventure starts with a choice—and so does every great cup of coffee. With Cantrip Coffee, you’re not just choosing an invigorating brew; you’re choosing to make a difference. Inspired by the spirit of adventure, we craft high-quality coffees that fuel both your journey and the causes that matter. So choose your blend, take a sip, and join us in brewing a better world. Roll for Initiative. Sip for Change.
Challenge
Create a coffee brand grounded in fairness and equality, with a deep commitment to giving back.
Coffees that inspire and energize while supporting causes that matter.
Fairness, equity, and inclusivity in every can.
With each coffee purchased, a portion of our proceeds is donated to charities supporting mental health and LGBTQIA+ issues.
100% fair trade certified.
Partnered with cooperatives and direct trade initiatives that prioritize small-scale farmers and sustainable practices.
Solution
With Cantrip Coffee, we would be breaking into an untapped market of ready to drink brews.
After compiling other competitive brands within the market, the only other coffee brands with fantasy/ D&D relations are bagged coffee beans/coffee grinds.
People are more likely to get drinks for their campaign sessions that are easily prepared, as well as on theme.
Coffee is a staple for many D&D players, as a campaign session can run an average of around 4 hours.
D&D Players, and the younger generation are more prone to think about “morality”, as there is even a commonplace moral alignment test that has gained popularity.
Project Specs:
Timeline:
10 weeks
Tools:
Figma, Webflow, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Dimensions, Adobe After Effects
Roles:
Researcher, Ideation/ Concept Curation, Art Director, Branding, Packaging, Copywriter, Illustrator, Editor, Motion Designer
Audience/ Demographic
12.6% of the world's population, or 1 billion people, drink coffee daily.
This makes coffee the most popular beverage in the world, with more than 400 billion cups consumed each year.
Over 88.8 gallons of coffee consumed every year by Americans alone, with more young adults drinking coffee than ever before.
Over 50 million people have played D&D worldwide.
Currently an estimated 13.7 million active tabletop D&D players worldwide. That number has continued to grow.
People spend around $500 million annually on D&D.
Over 40% of D&D players are 24 years old or younger.
Brainstorming
At the beginning of 10 weeks, we were tasked with creating a social good and ready to drink coffee brand. Admittedly, at first, my idea for this coffee brand was shot down entirely, until I re-pitched it the following week. I had been determined to see my idea through, although looking back, I am aware that is typically a luxury. I began by researching the audience, competitors, and solidifying to myself (and others), that creating such a brand would be viable, and hit deliverables for the project.
I began by creating a stylescape, brand story, and branding guidelines, and then moved on to a design system and mocked up wireframe in figma. Throughout this process, I was also prototyping various can packaging designs and reviewing them with the client, as well as people in the target demographic for feedback. Many iterations were completed, and three flavors were developed for launch.
Process
"A cantrip is a spell that can be cast at will, without using a spell slot and without being prepared in advance. Repeated practice has fixed the spell in the caster's mind and infused the caster with the magic needed to produce the effect over and over. A cantrip's spell level is 0."
In the process of ideating for this brand, the name came first. I was inspired to join the ready-to-drink market with a name impassioned by our favorite innate spells, that also don't require advance preparation.
Naturally, D&D players also think more about the "morality" of characters, allies, and enemies, as well as the impacts of each. This ideology lends itself perfectly to a socially good coffee, and the charities it supports.
D&D provides safe, accessible spaces for all types of people and characters to flourish, and that should be highlighted in company branding.
Social Media Campaign
A series of 3 promotional instagram story posts was also necessary for this process. Each post tells a slightly different story, while still curating to overarching brand themes, styles, and ideals.
Promotional Video
I also created a conceptual promotional video in After Effects as another side project while developing this brand. As an amateur, the goal was to emanate a "dice roll", as well as several other effects that would change indefinitely were it attempted again. However, I felt it demonstrated the concept enough to be included here.
Figma Pitch Deck
As a summation of all research and concepts, a final pitch deck was created for the client alongside the website. The final website was created in Webflow.
Some imagery and art pieces portrayed here are utilized as a part of a school project to help bring a design concept to life. All credit goes to the original creators.
