FLUID Coffee Roasters
The goal of this design was to create packaging that reflects both the character of our company and the place we come from. FLUID Coffee Roasters is a family-run roastery in Northern Indiana along the southern edge of Lake Michigan. This region is often described as a meeting point of Sand and Steel. The Indiana Dunes National Park contains one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the country, while just miles away sits one of the largest steel-producing complexes in the world alongside the greater Chicago area. Living and working here means constantly experiencing natural landscape and industrial structure together.
That sense of duality inspired this project. The rigid box represents structure and permanence, while the matte black soft-touch material and botanical debossing reference growth, texture, and the natural cycles that define coffee itself. The eye motif on the front represents awareness and seeking, reflecting both transparency in sourcing and our search for producers and communities doing exceptional work.
This project also aims to broach a difficult element in coffee packaging: the ability to see the coffee itself. A concealed window on the back of the box allows the holder to turn the package and visually inspect the beans inside while still protecting them from direct light when displayed on a shelf. This reinforces transparency, adds to the visual experience, and allows for coffee aroma to escape the box.
Ultimately, we designed this packaging to feel intentional, tactile, and reflective of our home while maintaining the integrity and craft of coffee.
We approached sustainability in a practical way throughout the design. The outer structure is a paper-based box produced in the United States by a manufacturer that uses regenerative forestry practices and recycles all production scrap back into new materials. The box itself, along with most of the labels applied to it, can be recycled through standard paper recycling streams.
While a rigid box requires a larger production run than the small paper bands we previously used, we designed this package as a single versatile format that can support many coffees. By using interchangeable labels, the same box can be used for foundational coffees, limited releases, and collaborations, allowing us to extend the lifespan of each production run rather than creating new packaging for every coffee.
Inside the box, the coffee is stored in a traditional valve bag that preserves freshness and allows for proper degassing, consistent with standard specialty coffee packaging. The box adds protection from light and retail handling while keeping the coffee shelf stable. We also incorporated a digital component through a QR code on the label that links to detailed information about the coffee. This allows us to share origin, processing, and sourcing transparency without requiring additional printed inserts or extra single use materials.
The goal was to create packaging that balances responsible sourcing, durability, and long-term usability while maintaining the quality and integrity of the coffee.
