That is all the attention a passing cart gets, and the bag had to sell inside it.

I designed the logo and the 250g bag for Urban Barista, an espresso cart on three wheels in Pretoria with a small roastery behind it. The cart never stays in one place, so there was no window to dress and no shelf spot to win. The roasts got numbers instead of adjectives: a word short enough to say out loud, and a figure large enough to spot across a room.

Four panels, three inks. Black, ochre and teal have to cover the front, the reverse and both gussets.

The medium roast, No. 22, went to press in November 2020 with a barcode and artwork for all four panels: the blend copy, the brewing symbols, the storage instructions and the Waterkloof Heights address. Two others, No. 87 and No. 34, exist as colour studies for blends that might follow. The numerals are MTT Roma Heavy and the roast lines Meta Serif Pro.

Saying a number takes less effort than describing a taste.