Without create a delightfully transparent identity system for B2B roastery Social Impact Coffee

More and more coffee brands are engaging with consumers’ needs for positive and authentic impact, and B2B speciality roastery Social Impact Coffee is no different; with a no-nonsense name and initiative to match. When building a brand, their aim was to stand out in a saturated market of feel-good claims with a brand that champions accountability by seeing people as profit, not cost. As a Community Interest Company (CIC), Social Impact Coffee reinvests 65% of its profits back into community causes. This key figure, 65%, was the inspiration behind brand design studio Without’s strategy and identity for the London-based roastery. They introduced a flexible and playful visual language to the brand, centred around the motif of percentages. With a pared-back graphic approach to key elements, the London-based studio placed their focus on typography. “As a brand championing a different approach, writing and typography were always going to be important to Social Impact Coffee,” Creative Director Roly Grant tells us. “We wanted a typeface that, like the brand, could feel both radical and simple – that could land big statements with a light touch.” Displaay’s Matter, a warm grotesk sans serif, was therefore a perfect fit. “Once Matter was chosen,” Grant continues, “a suite of icons  – designed around a 65-degree angle echoing the brand’s key statistic – were crafted to fit the typeface, replacing letters or words for impact.” The simple yet charming icons are also used to highlight signature blends or tasting notes.