About ColorTrack
ColorTrack offers an innovative laser analysis system to improve coffee roasting consistency. By using lasers instead of incandescent bulbs, ColorTrack eliminates the need for calibration and adjustment. Their bench-top and handheld units measure the color of roasted coffee beans far more accurately than the human eye can, allowing for precise and repeatable results.
The ColorTrack system significantly reduces error rates without needing warm-up and with fully automatic calibration and adjustment. It also reduces waste in the production process from an industry average of 2-6% to less than 1%, saving roasters both time and money.
Solving the client’s need
As an exhibitor at a 2016 specialty coffee expo, ColorTrack needed an essay poster to showcase its product. This is precisely what it sounds like: an essay in poster form. Since the design would, by necessity, be very text-heavy, I needed a way to format and present that text that was still easy to read.
The client supplied the full text of the essay to me, separated into sections:
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Methods
- Results
- Conclusion
They also supplied an image of their benchtop unit and color data for the varying results of different roasting times.
Creating the design
I separated each essay section and used a four-column layout to limit line length and improve readability. High-contrast header bars make it easy for the viewer to identify and scan essay sections. For better readability, I chose to use a serif font. Since the final poster size was 36″ x 48″, the entire essay’s content fit comfortably at an easily readable size.
Graphical elements
I added a few different graphics to give more meaning to the essay text:
Coffee beans
These were just a fun way to fill some negative space on the bottom left of the poster. I created a bean in Adobe Illustrator, then added two more overlapping it. Each bean has a different color, as if roasted to a different level of darkness.
Roasting chart
This chart uses color swatches to easily illustrate the final color, color name, and roast name of different roasting styles. It also shows when each crack happens; the cracks result from chemical changes in the beans and affect the flavor of the roasted and brewed beans.
Bench Unit image
To help the viewer understand what ColorTrack’s products look like, I added the client-supplied picture of their bench unit with a caption describing its function and value. The caption is in a smaller serif font to visually contrast with the main essay’s font.
Final design