1951 Coffee Company
Background
1951 Coffee Company, located near UC Berkeley, is a non-profit specialty coffee organization that promotes the well-being of the refugee community in the United States by providing job training and employment to refugees, asylees, and special immigrant visa holders while educating the surrounding community about refugee life and issues.
The Problem
The organization lacks clear brand guidelines and a consistent set of social media assets, making it difficult to maintain a cohesive online presence. A lack of clarity around brand voice, combined with political and privacy concerns, has created hesitation around posting content. Due to these challenges, the organization’s ability to effectively reach its community online has been limited.
Method #1: Competitor SWOT Analysis
Our team began by conducting a competitive analysis of coffee shops to understand industry trends, branding strategies, and customer experience patterns. This helped us identify both effective approaches and common gaps within the market.
Method #2: Social Listening
We conducted social listening on social media platforms to identify what attracted customers to the brand and what drove them away.
Method #3: Consumer Survey
Our research focused on how customers choose coffee shops, which values shape their purchasing decisions, and how they perceive 1951 Coffee Company.
12 Questions
100+ Respondents
Method #4: Consumer Interview & Contextual Inquiry
Our research focused on how customers choose coffee shops, which values shape their purchasing decisions, and how they perceive 1951 Coffee Company.
12-15 Questions
15 Participants
Method #5: Stakeholder Interview
We interviewed 1951 Coffee staff and program managers to understand their internal workflows and branding needs. These insights informed how the brand kit and assets could better support accessibility and consistent storytelling across platforms.
12-15 Questions
3 Stakeholders
Affinity Mapping
Following our research, we grouped key insights by theme and identified four opportunities:
Digital Marketing
Develop consistent, cohesive brand aesthetic to increase social media engagement.
Mission Perception
Use personal storytelling and mission-driven messaging to help customers better understand 1951 Coffee’s social impact.
Environment & Service
Incentivize customers to utilize cafe seating to encourage organic marketing.
Customer Motivations
Promote customer loyalty programs or social events through word-of-mouth discovery to increase retention.
User Persona and Journey
We created three user personas and journeys to understand 1951 Coffee Company’s consumer segments across different age groups.
Meet Luna, Arjun, and Eric:
After synthesizing customer journeys and research insights, we conducted Crazy 8s to rapidly brainstorm ideas within an eight-minute timeframe. We then organized and refined these ideas, selecting our strongest concepts to be evaluated on an effort vs. impact matrix.
Crazy 8 & Effort vs. Impact Matrix
Brand Book
We created a comprehensive brand guidelines book to establish a clear and cohesive brand identity. The guide defined visual standards such as color, typography, and layout, as well as brand voice, tone, and messaging principles. It also included social media templates and usage guidelines to help ensure consistency across platforms, enabling the team to create content with confidence and efficiency moving forward.
Some key pages:
Product Shoot For Social Media Feed
Our team visited 1951 Coffee Company to conduct an on-site product shoot, capturing vibrant photography and videography to enhance their social media feed.
This project was so rewarding because our team frequently visited 1951 Coffee Company and stayed in close communication with our point of contact through regular client calls. I particularly enjoyed the product shoot, where our team captured the beautiful menu items in the shop. While working on this project, I learned the importance of conducting stakeholder interviews when possible, as they allow us to truly understand the internal challenges faced by employees.
Thank you to 1951 Coffee Company for trusting us with the entire process, and also to my team members for being so supportive!
