Cosmic coffee

Aliena is an Italian coffee roastery whose extra-terrestrial themed packaging was designed by Rome-based agency, Studio Lord Z. Founded by Alessandro Gianvenuti, the studio has a specific focus on food & beverage design in recent years, having also created collateral for Il Pagliaccio Restaurant and Drink Kong, respectively.

Gianvenuti says, ‘The design for Aliena Coffee Roasters is inspired by space as a cultural reference and imagery related to astronomy, sci-fi, discovery and the unknown. Space is the visual element that ties the construction of the project together through the logo, coordinated graphics and packaging design.’

Within the packaging there is also a tribute to the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey (1969) with the incorporation of the monolith shape. The Aliena typeface logo is a custom ‘futuristic’ font and Gianvenuti’s goal ‘was to create a strong visual identity, detached from the classic imagery of coffee’. He wanted to build packaging that encourages ‘the curiosity to discover, know, and experiment through a minimal, futuristic and sophis­ticated design’.

The packaging also includes an X-per White graphic postcard with different colours printed on one side and all the coffee’s technical data printed on the other. The coloured postcard is visible from the outside of the box through a die-cut hole.

Gianvenuti decided to use Sirio Ultra Black for the main coffee packaging as ‘it was perfect for a “space object”, with an incredible deep black colour, which was also very rigid and resistant’. The Pantone Silver typography also offsets brilliantly on the paper.

Aliena is the roasting company of Faro, one of the most renowned specialty coffee bars in Italy.