Bold New Branding for Coffee and Honey Products in Guatemala

By -
Guatemala is a land with a multitude of cultures, languages and traditions woven tightly and colorfully together like the patterned textiles on display in every market. The Farmer-to-Farmer program matches volunteers from the U.S. with agricultural partners in countries like Guatemala, to train locals on topics like organic farming practices and how to prepare products for the local and global market. 

The Asociación de Cooperación al Desarrollo Integral de Huehuetenango (ACODIHUE) is an agricultural association that supports smallholder farmers. It offers training and fair wages for indigenous people, equal opportunities for women, and social services. ACODIHUE works with coffee and honey producers in the mountains of the department of Huehuetenango and provides them with financial and agricultural training and assistance to ensure they get the most fruitful harvests possible. The coffee produced is both for export and domestic consumption while the honey is for domestic consumption only. As a second-level organization, and because of its ethnic diversity, it is a pluricultural and multilingual association, with representatives from nine ethnic groups. 

As part of its various projects and needs, ACODIHUE requested a volunteer expert that would help them improve the design of the brands they offered, specifically the packaging of their honey and coffee. Labels and packages have a huge impact on consumer appeal and allow the products to be more competitive in local, regional and international markets.


The chosen volunteer for this assignment was graphic designer Melissa Delzio. Melissa is an independent designer from Portland, Oregon and has 15 years of experience creating print and interactive work for international brands, local businesses, nonprofits and educational institutions. Her work reflects her passion for issues of social and environmental justice, feminism, sports, small businesses, travel and history. She is an instructor at Portland State University and is leading an initiative to tell the story of Portland’s design history. 

Melissa travelled to Guatemala in August 2019. After spending a week learning Spanish in Antigua, she had a long trip to Huehuetenango to meet ACODIHUE’s manager and technicians. During her assignment she had several group meetings, design presentations, cupping activities, and field trips to Mayan communities. At the end of her assignment, she had designed two new coffee bags, one coffee label (front/back) and a full label for two sizes of honey, while ensuring the brand identity was compelling. 

Along with the association, she decided on the brand’s colors and font choices, and put together a full suite of illustration assets that can be used by ACODIHUE moving forward, either for their future packaging designs or social media presence. Melissa also recommended that ACODIHUE creates a brand that includes all consumer-facing products, a new website for this brand, secure the name of this brand on Facebook and Instagram; and develop social media content. 

Melissa stated: “Social media is a wonderful place to build your brand when you have a low budget! But, it needs to be populated with regular and diverse content.” 


Old packaging

New packaging designed by Melissa

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Better Marketing and Communications to Showcase the Work of our Hosts in Colombia

By -
Image
Salva Terra Foundation has focused on supporting vulnerable communities through sustainable agriculture. They work with impoverished populations and victims of violence in Medellin and aim to promote farming and develop local skills to work in the agricultural industry in an ecological manner. This process of bringing together concepts such as social impact, sustainable development, environmental protection, and food security requires excellent outreach and promotion. Therefore, they requested a F2F volunteer to help them develop a communication and marketing plan. The chosen volunteer for this assignment was Dr. Sindy Chapa. She has a B.A. in Mass Media Communications, with a Minor in Television and Art Design, an MBA, and Ph.D. in International Business/Marketing. She is the Director and Associate Professor at the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication at Florida State University and has won several communications awards. Dr. Chapa decided to use Salva Terra as one of the case ...
Read more

Digital Marketing in Colombia

By -
Image
Digital Marketing is one way that entrepreneurs and producers across the globe can reach new markets and increase sales. But what is digital marketing and how can a small Colombian business use it to maximize the number of people who come across its brand? These are the questions that Zen Naturals was asking itself. Zen Naturals is a natural cosmetic manufacturing company based in Cali, Colombia. Zen Naturals develops natural cosmetics made from exotic ingredients from Colombia’s outstanding biodiversity. Through ethical manufacturing and fair trade practices, they are also taking a leadership role in re-investing in the communities that grow the ingredients used in their products. Currently, Zen Naturals supports more than 95 Colombian quinoa farming communities through Fair-Trade Practices and technical assistance on their production. Zen Naturals is preparing to launch their quinoa facial care products in Whole Foods Markets in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. in 2017....
Read more

Supporting Anti-Child Labor Projects in Ecuador and Panama

By -
Image
EducaFuturo is a program currently being implemented by Partners of the Americas in Ecuador and Panama. Funded by the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL), EducaFuturo seeks to combat child labor in both countries through educational programs, vocational training, and livelihood services. F2F has partnered with EducaFuturo on numerous occasions over the past 5 years, sending 7 volunteers to support their efforts in improving the educational outcomes of youth involved in child labor, while also increasing the income opportunities of households to reduce reliance on child labor. Volunteers have provided training on a range of topics, including sustainable production practices, processing, business management, and marketing. In January 2016, F2F volunteer Carmen Pacheco-Borden traveled to Panama to work with native Ngabe-Bugle women’s groups in the tomato farming communities of Hato Chami and Boca de Monte to make value-added products from their harvests and consequently increase their hous...
Read more