AutoPilot 2024
Coffee Roaster & Cafe Passion Project
Credits
Tyler Eldridge Designs
Deliverables
Naming
Branding
Illustration
Packaging
AI Art Direction
Project Information
AutoPilot began as a passion project inspired by my love for coffee, and the desire to create a brand that conveys the emotional impact of this daily ritual. In a category largely dominated by brands which leverage heritage and quality ingredients, I wanted to evoke the feelings behind finding yourself in a daze, needing a boost of energy, and ultimately the out-of-body experience that follows a great brew.
Rather than focusing on the origin of the beans, and the history behind the roastery, I wanted the brand to be strategically centered around the types of people and places individuals find themselves when needing coffee’s energy boosting properties. The concept of ‘daydreaming,’ and the phenomena of entering a different state of mind when you do repetitive tasks, drew me towards visuals of mythical worlds and space travel.
Identity System
The core of AutoPilot’s visual system is a gradient color palette that transitions and glows to reflect the feeling of being energized. These colors illuminate typography that is inspired by vintage sci-fi movie posters, and have inherent geometric anatomy that speaks to the rest of the astrological toolkit. The use of cartography lines are a nod to maps and futuristic video games, and gives structure to an otherwise free-flowing layout system.
The illustration and iconography toolkit was built as an extension of the typography and cartography line layout system. The figures and components of the illustrations are built from simple shapes to reflect how our memories simplify subject matter that we do repetitively.
A key component of the art direction is the use of AI image generating software. This was the perfect medium to build out a fantastical environment for the AutoPilot product to live in. This world is remeniscent of our own reality but, much like we do in a dream state, twisted to be surreal and otherwordly.