Pekku Coffee is a niche coffee roasting company which specialises in quality roasts using coffee imported from Central & South America and the Caribbean. Much of the green coffee beans sourced by the company are from single-estate plantations and the producers are chosen for their commitment to fairness as employers as well as the quality of the produce.

The company takes its name from ‘Ah Peku’, the Mayan God of Thunder. You have been chosen to design their new logo that will be used for their branding, in particular their web and social media content. The company would like their logo to reflect the quality and care that is taken in the selection and roasting of the beans; their individuality; the diversity of their coffees and the rich heritage of coffee from the Americas.

• Upon reading the brief, I was instantly struck with the fact that this was a company that cared deeply for it’s culture and heritage along with the quality and care it took into producing coffee

• To convey this I did research into Mayan history and discovered that the Mayan temple was symbolic to their culture. I was also intrigued by the Mayan alphabet and my first thought was to design a logo that referenced the hieroglyphs. However, a deeper understanding was required to properly translate the ancient text. Ah-Pekku, the Mayan God of thunder was to also be a vital aspect of the logo, further cementing the Mayan culture.

• To convey the quality and fair-trade that was the foundations of Pekku Coffee I wanted to portray the landscape of Maya Mountain Range.

• I wanted to the logo to be eye catching, to be representative of Mayan culture and landscape but essentially, I felt that the most important aspect was to convey that was a Coffee Shop, where along with quality, passion and care, one could taste the history of the Mayan Civilisation.

• This lead me to sketching a variety of designs that incorporated culture and landscape, all of which would lend themselves, each in their own particular way, to the final logo

• Upon beginning the process of drawing up my final logo, I had managed to create a list of criteria that I intended to follow.

• Focusing on sustainability and fair-trade, I wanted to include a natural element to the logo. I decided that this would be the Maya Mountain Range, which incidentally, I also referenced in the tag line.

• To incorporate Mayan culture, I decided include a Mayan Temple and also a lightning strike which is symbolic of the Mayan God Ah-Pekku from which the company gets it’s name.

• I wanted the logo to be uncluttered and instantly recognisable for what it was - a coffee shop. In-line with this I wanted to keep the colour scheme simple. I experimented with different combinations of colours but eventually decided on Mayan Blue and the Burgundy Red.

• My final sketches included different variants of the central coffee bean and temple, various colours and outlines. But the core idea remained the same throughout and that is what I brought into illustrator.

CONCLUSION

• My final logo is one that is representative of all aspects of Pekku Coffee Company. It is rich in tradition and heritage borrowing my facets of Mayan Culture.

• The design and shape lends itself to classic major coffee company logos and the colours are retro, niche and specific to Mayan heritage.

• A lot of emphasis is placed on the central coffee bean which is striking and unique ensuring a customer that this is a company that takes pride in its produce.