Bloody brew-tiful: NOT Wieden+Kennedy on its switchable packaging and new look for Dark Arts Coffee

With perhaps the best comedic chops we’ve ever seen from a coffee company, East London-based Dark Arts Coffee has built a reputation for not only their speciality roasted beans and exciting collaborations, but their truly top-tier shitposting memes – a masterclass in blending coffee culture with internet humour. Now, to mark its 10-year anniversary, they’re sporting a new look, courtesy of London-based branding and design studio NOT Wieden+Kennedy, that steers them in a more premium direction. Creative director Justin Hallström explains that a conversation began about the brand when he was introduced to founder Brad Morrison through mutual friends. “At the time, he was looking to update the packaging, as he wanted to move away from their devil-emblazoned original packaging.” However, Hallström saw this as a broader brand challenge rather than just packaging. While keeping Dark Arts Coffee’s core identity, the studio focused on refining and strengthening the brand’s foundations as this would help position them for growth. Since its inception, the company has built a dedicated community and cult following through its unconventional coffee naming, playful social media presence, and limited-edition merchandise drops. “Finding a way to bring that into the visual identity – while bringing in consistency – was the challenge,” Hallström reveals. Moving away from the heavy occult symbolism and devil imagery of its past (rooted in biker culture) while preserving the brand’s beloved character, they developed the new identity around a concept called ‘Joyful Nihilism.’ “From there,” notes Hallström, “the solution fell into place – a stripped-back, typographic approach that let their tone of voice take centre stage. The typeface Cooper Black was a natural choice – its use on 1970s-style biker T-shirts perfectly captured their irreverent personality, something they’d also played with in the past designs.”