Chapter · Lost & Found Coffee · Portland · 2023–now
A coffee brand, built from zero
Co-founder & CMO. A coffee company that sends money back to the farms it buys from. I built the brand first, then everything it touches: packaging, the website, email, print and a mobile espresso truck.
Bag · printed
The brand system
Built before anything else
Wordmark
Monogram
Every Cup Tells a Tale
people over product
Brand lines
Palette
Label color system · one color per coffee
Stickers
Icon library
From the bag to the truck to the farm
The brand at work
Bag draft · wholesale sample kit, design mockup · espresso truck · printed bag · the lineup
Origin trips · photographed and filmed on location
How the system was built
Six steps · four beats each
01
Step 01
Define the System
The brand came first, before a single bag.
The need
An identity for a coffee company that sends money back to the farms it buys from.
The constraint
Starting from zero: no name recognition, no budget for an agency.
What I did
Logo, wordmark and monogram, custom fonts, a travel-journal visual language, icons and stickers.
Why
Everything after this point is cheaper and faster because the decisions are already made.
Built first
Logo · wordmark · monogram · custom fonts · travel-journal language · icons · stickers
02
Step 02
Build the Pipeline
Brand, then packaging, website, email and print, in that order.
The need
A path from a new coffee to everything it appears on.
The constraint
Every coffee changes: new origins, new roasts, new stories.
What I did
A label color system that colors each coffee by its character, so a new coffee is a new color, not a new design. Then the website, automated email flows and print.
Why
A system that absorbs change is one you do not have to redesign every quarter.
Build order
Brand → packaging → website → email → print
03
Step 03
Assemble the Crew
A founding team instead of a hired crew.
The need
Design, roasting, wholesale, events and content, covered.
The constraint
Four founders, no agency, no staff photographers.
What I did
Split the work across the founding team and kept brand and content with me: design, photography, film and the site.
Why
At this scale, the crew is the people at the table. The system tells them what good looks like.
With our farmer partners
04
Step 04
Produce the Content
The bag, the truck and the films from origin.
The need
Packaging, a launch and stories worth telling.
The constraint
One small team doing all of it, between roasts and events.
What I did
Designed the 2026 bag through sixteen rounds. Launched the Minnie Winnie espresso truck. Photographed and filmed our farmer partners on origin trips to Costa Rica, Honduras and Guatemala.
Why
The story is the product. The farms are why it costs what it costs.
16
rounds on the 2026 bag
05
Step 05
Catalog the Assets
Years of origin footage, organized so it can be used.
The need
Every trip's footage findable for the next film, post or email.
The constraint
Hours of footage from every trip, shot fast and far from home.
What I did
Organized the origin library, logged the clips, and keep one canonical brand kit.
Why
Footage you can't find is footage you didn't shoot.
The library
Origin footage by trip · clips logged · one canonical brand kit
06
Step 06
Run the System
The brand at work, every day.
The need
Keep it all running and growing.
The constraint
A small business: every hour counts twice.
What I did
Rebuilt the website on Shopify as a travel journal, run the email flows and the content calendar, and keep the brand kit current.
