J9 Coffee is an independent coffee brand known for combining specialty coffee with creative storytelling. After the pandemic, the company closed its seven Shanghai locations and relaunched its offline business in Jingdezhen, aiming to build a more locally rooted and experience-driven brand.
For its 2024 Spring/Summer seasonal campaign, I developed the visual concept Memory Garden, creating a cohesive identity that extended across products, retail space, and customer experience.
Challenge
Seasonal campaigns are more than product launches—they are opportunities to strengthen emotional connections between a brand and its customers.
As J9 Coffee entered a new chapter, the Spring/Summer campaign needed to introduce seasonal products while expressing the brand's optimistic and human-centered character.
The challenge was to create an experience that customers would remember beyond the coffee itself.
Strategy
Working closely with the founder, we identified three values that have shaped the brand since its beginning: Empathy, Playfulness, and Creativity.
Rather than illustrating spring or summer literally, we drew inspiration from the everyday rituals of life in the 1990s.
Lace tablecloths, enamel washbasins, summer evenings outdoors, and childhood moments chasing dragonflies became symbols of shared memories that transcend generations.
These familiar experiences provided an emotional foundation for the campaign while reinforcing the brand's storytelling approach.
Design System
The campaign centers around three original botanical illustrations that depict different moments within a symbolic garden.
Caterpillars crawling through bamboo, dragonflies hovering among flowers, and birds quietly observing their surroundings create a sequence of living scenes inspired by childhood memories and nature.
The visual system was developed with three seasonal color palettes and applied consistently across:
Seasonal beverage packaging
Campaign graphics
Interior and exterior retail environments
Staff uniforms
Lifestyle merchandise
Together, these elements created a unified seasonal brand experience.
Brand Experience
Rather than designing a nostalgic campaign, Memory Garden sought to reconnect people with the quiet rituals of everyday life.
Through subtle storytelling and handcrafted illustration, the campaign transformed familiar memories into an immersive brand experience that feels calm, warm, and timeless.
Outcome
Memory Garden established a complete seasonal identity system that connected products, retail space, uniforms, and branded merchandise under one cohesive narrative.
津久咖啡是一家强调咖啡文化与创意体验的独立咖啡品牌。经历疫情后，品牌关闭了上海七家门店，并将线下经营重心迁至景德镇，希望以更具在地文化和品牌特色的方式重新出发。
我制定并设计，品牌围绕春夏与秋冬两个季节推出全新的限定饮品、甜点及空间主题。2024 年春夏主题 《记忆花园（Memory Garden）》 的整体视觉概念设计，并将其延伸至品牌的线下体验系统。
商业挑战
季节限定不仅意味着推出新品，更是品牌与消费者建立情感连接的重要机会。
对于重新启程的津久咖啡而言，春夏主题需要承担两项任务：一方面为新品带来鲜明的季节识别度；另一方面，也希望通过更具情感价值的内容，让顾客在消费之外，获得值得停留与分享的品牌体验。
如何让一次季节活动超越产品本身，成为品牌记忆的一部分，是这次设计的核心挑战。
策略思考
与创始团队沟通后，我们重新梳理了品牌长期坚持的三个关键词：
共情 / 有趣 / 创意
基于这一品牌基因，我们没有直接描绘春天或夏天，而是选择以 「90 年代的生活仪式」 作为创作切入点。
那个年代，没有今天丰富的娱乐方式，却拥有许多被时间慢慢带走的生活细节：蕾丝桌布、印着红色喜字的脸盆、夏夜乘凉、追逐蜻蜓，以及人与人之间更自然的相处方式。
这些共同记忆能够跨越年龄，引发情感共鸣，也让品牌在季节营销中建立更深层次的文化表达。
设计系统
围绕 《记忆花园（Memory Garden）》 这一主题，我创作了三幅原创花鸟插画，以植物、昆虫与飞鸟构建三个连续的自然场景。
毛毛虫在竹林间缓慢爬行、蜻蜓停驻花间、鸟儿静静等待猎物，每一个画面都隐喻着人与自然共处的童年记忆，也共同构成一个充满生命力的花园。
整套视觉系统采用三组主色调，形成完整的季节视觉识别，并统一应用于：
春夏限定饮品包装 / 新品宣传物料 / 店内外空间装饰 / 店员制服 / 咖啡周边
通过统一的视觉语言，让顾客从进入门店开始，便能够沉浸于同一个品牌故事之中。
品牌体验
《记忆花园》并不是一次关于怀旧的设计，而是借由熟悉的生活场景，重新唤起人与自然、人与家庭、人与日常仪式之间的情感连接。
相比强调视觉冲击，整个系列更希望营造一种安静、温暖且富有生命力的品牌氛围，让顾客在喝咖啡的同时，也重新感受到那些曾经习以为常、如今却难得一见的生活片段。
项目价值
《记忆花园》建立了一套完整的春夏品牌主题系统，并成功延伸至产品、空间、服装与品牌周边等多个触点。
通过一致的视觉语言与叙事方式，这次季节企划不仅强化了新品发布的整体体验，也进一步丰富了津久咖啡的品牌表达，使一次季节更新成为顾客能够感知、体验并记住的品牌故事。
Designer: Jake Zhou
Flower Decoration: Shiguangji
Year: 2024
