Indonesian Organic Chocolate
Alam Cocoa
An Indonesian Organic Chocolate Company
Ross Wineinger
Copyright 2008 by the author of this book Ross Wineinger. The book author retains sole copyright to his or her contributions to this book.
“All you need is LOVE. But a little CHOCOLATE now and then doesn’t hurt.”
-Charles Schulz
Purpose
The purpose of this book is to illustrate the ideation process for a project in which the purpose was to create
a visual identity system for a cocoa company that is a member of the World Cocoa Foundation. This includes determining a name for the company relevant to the country of origin, creating a logo, and developing product packaging for three sample products. The country that had been selected:
INDONESIA 4
For inspiration, it was recommended to create a
mood board or inspiration board that includes imagery about the
culture, language,
growers, art, fabrics, plants, music, literature, weather, landscape, colors, fonts, and agriculture that people,
are relevant to the country of
Indonesia and the cacao industry.
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Culture
Indonesian culture, like Indonesia itself, is a fascinating blend of indigenous, Malay, Hindu, Buddhist, and
Islamic elements. It’s a country of great diversity and its national motto is “Unity in Diversity.� This diversity is also found in all aspects of culture: language, housing, cuisine, dance and music, artistic expression, etc as each has many local variants. However, Indonesia is also noted for several distinct and national cultural expressions. These include the Wayang shadow puppet theatre, the gamelan orchestra, Balinese and Javanese dances, and batik cloth making traditions. Batik refers to the technique of creating beautiful designs in cloth by covering parts of the material with wax and then dying the material. The dye, of course, clings only to the parts of the material not covered with wax. Indonesian Batik has particular designs and different areas specialized in different color combinations.
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Cuisine and Agriculture The staple food of most of Indonesia is rice. From the surrounding seas as well as from fresh water fisheries
fish is abundant and of great variety, such as lobsters, oysters, prawns and shrimps, squid, crab, etc. Coconut is found everywhere and besides being produced for cooking oil, its milk juice from the white meat is an ingredient for many dishes. Spices and hot chili peppers are the essence of most cooking, and in some areas they are used generously such as in West Sumatra and North Sulawesi. Each province or area has it’s own cuisine, which vary in the method of cooking and ingredients.
Indonesia’s size, tropical climate, and archipelagic geography, support the world’s second highest level of biodiversity (after Brazil). Agricultural produce include rubber, coconut, coffee, tea, cocoa, corn, spices, kapok, tobacco, rice, etc. and an abundance of vegetable and fruit.
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World Cocoa Foundation The World Cocoa Foundation promotes a
sustainable cocoa economy through economic and social development and environmental conservation in cocoa growing communities. Millions of small, family farms grow cocoa in equatorial regions around the world. For many cocoa farmers, the crop is a major source of income for their families and their communities. Yet each year, they face significant challenges ranging from crop loss due to pests and diseases (on average, 30 percent annually), limited access to the latest farming practices, and other issues. The World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) was formed in 2000 to address these issues. Today, it plays a leading role in helping cocoa farming families by developing and managing effective, on-the-ground programs, raising funds and acting as a forum for broad discussion of the cocoa farming sector’s needs. Its nearly 60 member companies support the Foundation financially and through active participation in its efforts. These efforts are enhanced through “public private partnerships” organized between the WCF or its members, and a range of interested institutions. 8
The combination of public and private expertise brings real benefits to farmers and their families. In addition, WCF member companies contribute their valuable expertise in cocoa farming and related issues. Based in Washington, DC, the WCF has a staff of professionals with in-depth experience in agricultural, sustainable development and rural economic issues – led by WCF president Bill Guyton. The WCF is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.
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Succulent-Berair Chocolate-Coklat Dark-Gelap Satisfy-Memuaskan Satisfied-Puas Natural-Alam Dragon-Naga Smooth-Lancar Delicious-Lezat/Ena 10
?
What’s
in a
name?
The name of the company originated solely from the
desired direction for Alam Cocoa. With the negative press in regards to the melamine problem in the Asian Pacific region, the desire for the company was to make the consumer feel at ease with buying a product from Indonesia. It was decided this cocoa company would need to be organic minded, while also offering a quality cocoa product. In addition, the name would also need to represent the culture and country of origin. Turning to the language of Indonesia assisted in establishing a basis for the name. The question was then to choose which particular word from the native language that would best represent the idea for this company. A list of words was then compiled to help narrow down the name of the cocoa company . These are the options that were explored: Succulent- Berair Chocolate- Coklat Dark- Gelap Satisfy- Memuaskan Satisfied- Puas Natural- Alam Dragon- Naga Smooth- Lancar Delicious- Lezat/Ena 12
After many hours of debating and testing the words with various combinations of “cocoa” and “chocolate”, the word that finally decided upon was “alam”. Alam means natural or nature in Indonesian, which perfectly describes the product and it’s origin. It’s meaning is simple and precise, and thus; was created.
ALAM COCOA
?
What’s
in a
logo?
A good logo properly represents the company and it’s products. For Alam Cocoa, it was exactly known what was not wanted. The company wanted to stay away from an official, corporate symbol. This would portray a stale and unoriginal product. The desire for the logo was to convey a fun, organic, and raw feeling.
a lam cocoa
The process began with the typeface, testing different fonts, with starting initially with a serif font. Ultimately it still felt very stiff and official, so then it was decided a handwritten font would be more suitable. Several different styles were developed of the handwritten script, until the logo in the bottom right corner was selected. This script had the most energy and gave the organic feel for Alam Cocoa. 14
Once the font was selected, the logo still felt uncompleted. A visual flourish was needed to accentuate it.
The initial idea was to have a cocoa bean, which was the obvious choice. After the first rough drafts of this idea, the cocoa bean did not fit the feel of the company, nor compliment the typeface. One design was too plain, the other too abstract and unusual. So then the search began for the iconic flourish for Alam cocoa.
After endless researching, and scouring the internet, a batik design from Indonesia was discovered with our
icon- the butterfly. Initially a very colorful design was selected, but it lost the organic and raw feeling, so then it was simplified down, colors and design-wise. If you also study the design closely on the next page, the cocoa bean is still there. 15
Indonesian Organic Chocolate
?
What’s
in a
product?
For it’s products, Alam Cocoa would be
manufacturing three distinct chocolate bars. The flavors of the bars had to be as exotic as Indonesia itself, and therefore would require appropriate mascots as well. While conducting research, three Indonesian cultural icons were selected that would best represent the chocolate bars, and present an original idea to the chocolate bar market. The three that were chosen; the Komodo Dragon, The Pura Ulan Danu Hindu Temple, and the Sun Bear. 18
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For the packaging design, the inspiration once again The desire of the illustrations was to give a raw and came from Batik designs. A hint of the patterns are displayed behind the logo and icon of each bar, with nutritional information on the back of the bars. The colors of the packaging directly related to the three distinct flavors of the bars.
simplified look, mirroring the product, while also capturing the essence of the iconic mascots. The simplified look also makes the flavors easily identifiable for those little ones who are just learning to read, and love chocolate.
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The first flavor Alam Cocoa will offer is the most Indonesian Organic Chocolate
Komodo Dragon Dark Chocolate Bar Dark Chocolate, Organic Cinnamon, & a hint of Organic Chili
vivacious and experimental flavor. Alam Cocoa proudly presents The Komodo Dragon chocolate bar. As you bite into a Dragon, you’ll first notice the rich flavor of dark chocolate, followed by a soothing cinnamon twist, finishing with a slight kick of fire from the chili powder within.
The second flavor is for those who are less adventurIndonesian Organic Chocolate
ous, but appreciate a more tranquil experience. The Temple bar is a serene, silky milk chocolate, and nothing more. Simply put it in your mouth, let it melt, and ride the velvety sweetness to your Shangri-la.
Temple Milk Chocolate Bar
Velvety Milk Chocolate, granting a serene experience.
The third flavor is a fun and playful fair. The combination Indonesian Organic Chocolate
of these flavors makes use of some of the most prominent Indonesian ingredients. The Sun Bear bar consists of organic milk chocolate, with a splash of coconut and orange.
Sun Bear Chocolate Bar
Milk Chocolate, with a hint of Citrus and Coconut
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Here’s a sample ad for the product. It gives an idea of a potential marketing concept, and that the product is truly special.
?
What’s
in an
ending? 23
Indonesian Organic Chocolate
There you have it. The development, the inspiration, the history. It’s all there. The hope is that this book will give some insight as to the thought process of design, and gave you a satisfying reading experience as well. And please...enjoy the chocolate.
Photos on pages 4,5,6,7,9,12,18,22 copyrighted and courtesy from the following sources: Fotolia.com, Stock.xchng and Gettyimages.com