BrandOpus looks to Scandinavia for rebrand of Swedish coffee Gevalia

The new look for the coffee brand includes a yellow colour palette, redesigned logo and swirl motif which aims to convey an “elegant aroma”.

BrandOpus has rebranded Gevalia with an identity that embraces the coffee company’s Scandinavian roots.

The work includes updates to the logo, wordmark and wider identity and rolls out across the brand’s packaging, website and social media channels.

Although now owned by Kraft Heinz, Gevalia was established in the seaside town of Gävle, Sweden in 1853 by Victor Theodor Engwall. Its beans are slow roasted and snap cooled, a process which continues today.

The new identity was driven by a need to stand out from the competition, according to BrandOpus chief creative officer Paul Taylor.

After delving into the US coffee market, the studio found that “a lot of coffee brands tend to opt for very detailed packaging, which feels busy and cluttered,” Taylor says.


“Stripping all of that information away”

The previous branding (left) and redesign (right)

“Our ambition with Gevalia was to strip all of that information away, allowing the bold yellow canvas to cut through and become a beacon on shelf,” he adds.

The new wordmark was been redesigned, now appearing as a lowercase sans serif typeface. This has a “much bolder weight” which helps for the pronunciation of the soft ‘g’ sound for Gevalia, Taylor says.

The brand’s hometown of Gävle and original founding date is also mentioned on the packaging above the logo.

Although colour varies according to flavours, a signature yellow shade is in use throughout the identity which is an acknowledgement of the brand’s Swedish roots, according to the design team.

The crown logo has also been redesigned to “reflect the moment of awakening the senses”, Taylor adds. The crown icon has been given a more prominent role in the rebrand, according to the designer, as it has inspired the swirl motif that appears across packaging and merchandise.

These swirls represent aromas represent an “elegant aroma” and are another attempt to stand out in the coffee sector, Taylor explains. “We needed something bold and striking.”

The patterns were developed by the studio and designed to work across a variety of formats and applications. “The colour change across the range reflects Gevalia’s aromatic experiences and helps to create easy navigation on shelf,” Taylor says.

The swirls are also a nod to the brand’s heritage, inspired by “the bold graphic patterns of Scandi design”, Taylor adds.


What do you think of Gevalia’s rebrand? Let us know in the comments below.

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Comments
  • Pete May 30, 2021 at 1:48 pm

    Swirly, swirly, generic swirls of ‘aroma’ … lower case ‘softer more approachable’ brand marque cliché and topped off with a predictable roundel holding absolutely darn everything! The redesign looks weak and looks very own label – honestly – anyone could do this.

    At least the old brand marque and pack had a bit of authority and credibility – the whole look is something designed totally on screen – and I really hope designers will grow out of this trend at the moment to put everything in a blooming roundel and consider the design as a piece of packaging and NOT just a holding device you take off and put onto other things!

  • Eva June 12, 2021 at 1:50 am

    Horrible design, and what is this e with 2 dots?? Trying to be some kind of Häagen Dazs and use letters that does not exist in the Swedish alphabet. I will stick to my Löfbergs Lila och Arvid Nordquist. Shame on the designer!

  • Merrill Aldrich July 2, 2021 at 1:57 pm

    “ë?” You HAVE to be joking. That’s not letter in Swedish. I guess this completed the brand’s decent to global/corporate mediocrity.

  • Robert Kölkvist September 24, 2021 at 7:38 pm

    You talk about Scandinavian roots !
    The letter ë does exist in any scandinavian language.

  • Ann Garvin November 17, 2021 at 10:43 pm

    I am so appalled by this design I can hardly contain myself. Has everyone in America gone insane? I just sent an irate e-mail to the customer support people, and I will miss the quaint, pretty design on the Colombian Gevalia coffee package very much, but this new design that’s supposed to be more “inclusive and diverse” or something is not in the least bit expressing anything to me but everything that’s going wrong in our society. Time to switch to another brand.

  • Janet B Koenig February 17, 2022 at 7:13 pm

    All of the mixed-up letters, caps & initials, with no meaning attached, make it impossible to just pick the right coffee. What the heck do they all indictate? Please make it easy, just no mysteries trying to decide which is my old fave!!!

  • Raymond Hencken December 24, 2023 at 12:12 am

    The design of the package is not as important as the coffee in the package. Since Kraft Heinz acquired the company, the quality of the coffee has gone down. It is not as rich and flavorful as before.

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