The intertwining language of coffee and design has found a home in the movement for consumable art. Coffee is a canvas upon which tremendously important art is produced for the public sphere. As the third wave coffee movement continues booming in the 21st century, coffee design has emerged as a valid, urgent form of art for the modern world, as vibrant and essential as any gallery painting or sculpture work.
Consumable art is accessible and interwoven into our daily lives in meaningful ways. The vibrant art we experience at coffee bars comes home with us, lives in our kitchens and cupboards, and can be enjoyed in the same moments we enjoy coffee itself. It is an essential 21st century art movement and should be recognized as such by those who produce and consume it, and most especially by the media that documents it.
We view this as our role, and take it seriously. Since 2009 Sprudge has produced The Sprudgie Awards, an annual voter initiative honoring excellence across a swath of categories, including packaging design. And since 2010 we have published a regular feature series—Coffee Design—curated by Sprudge co-founder Zachary Carlsen. Today this series is an invaluable public archive of coffee design trends and achievements across the past decade, a digital gallery of consumable art from around the world.
Now in 2023 we are launching the Sprudge Design Awards (SDA), a user submitted global platform honoring the best in coffee design, with a focus on original packaging design, products, and coffee art. This is a new initiative for Sprudge. Our goal is to put as large of a spotlight as possible on the field of consumable and packaging art as it relates to coffee, and to spotlight the truly outstanding work being done by the designers, illustrators, purveyors and coffee companies.
Public submission are open. Entry deadline is October 10, 2023. You can order your entries above—submission details will be delivered to your inbox once purchase is complete. Full details are available at the Sprudge Design Awards official website, including entry information and what to expect as we move towards our first round of semi-finalists in the 2023 SDAs. Public voting opens in October, and winners in each category will be announced in early November.
Join us for the first annual Sprudge Design Awards and thank you for your supporting outstanding coffee design.
Categories include:
| Outstanding Packaging — Whole Bean | This award honors outstanding design in the field of whole-bean coffee. Considerations include original label art, descriptive text, and physical presentation. |
| Outstanding Packaging — Ready To Drink | This award honors outstanding design in the field of ready-to-drink coffee products, including canned and bottled cold brew and coffee beer. Considerations include original label art, descriptive text, and physical presentation. |
| Outstanding Packaging — Food | This award honors outstanding design that fuses coffee and food. Any food product that includes coffee as a featured ingredient is eligible. Considerations include original branding, descriptive text, and physical presentation. |
| Outstanding Packaging — Seasonal or Limited Edition Design | This award honors outstanding design for any seasonal or limited edition coffee product, including holiday blends, limited edition seasonal offerings, or other featured small production designs. |
| Outstanding Design Achievement — Vessels | This award honors outstanding design of coffee mugs, travel tumblers, demitasse, or any form of vessel out of which coffee can be served. Vessels must be available for purchase, used in a cafe, or otherwise offered for public use. |
| Outstanding Design Achievement — Goods and Garments | This award honors outstanding design pertaining to promotional goods in the coffee industry. T-shirts, hats, pennants, coasters, aprons, socks, writing implements, spoons, charms, or any other form of merchandise designed to promote and support the enjoyment of coffee is eligible for consideration. |
| Outstanding Design Achievement — Print Materials | This award honors outstanding design pertaining to print materials. Printed menus, posters, one-sheets, handbooks, zines, magazines, flyers, and other forms of printed material are eligible for consideration. |
| Outstanding Design Achievement — Event Exhibition | This award honors outstanding design related to physical event exhibitions. This includes trade show booth design, pop-up cafe design, curated coffee service at special events, limited edition event appearances, live guerilla coffee theater and all other forms of coffee event exhibition. |
| Outstanding Design Achievement — Commercial Product | This award honors outstanding design related to commercial products. This includes packaging for alternative milks, traditional milks, sauces and syrups, water treatment and cleaning products, and other forms of commercial products that serve the field of coffee. |
| Outstanding Social Media | This award honors coffee companies exhibiting outstanding curation and attention to design detail in the field of social media. All major social media platforms are eligible. Coffee roasters, cafes, coffee product manufacturers, equipment manufacturers, and coffee industry purveyors are eligible for consideration. |
| Outstanding E-Commerce/Web Site | This award honors coffee companies exhibiting outstanding curation and attention to design detail on their websites or e-commerce platforms. Coffee roasters, cafes, coffee product manufacturers, equipment manufacturers, and coffee industry purveyors are eligible for consideration. |
| Outstanding Design Agency | This award honors outstanding design and artistic contributions of an independent design agency to the field of coffee design. Any genre of coffee product is eligible for consideration. |
| Outstanding In-House Design Team | This award honors an in-house design team’s outstanding design and artistic contributions. Any genre of coffee product is eligible for consideration. |
| Outstanding Design Collaboration | This award will be given to the best brand collaboration project involving at least two entities. Any genre of coffee product, artwork, or creative collaboration is eligible for consideration. |
| Outstanding Designer | This award honors an outstanding individual designer working in the field of coffee. Their work can include packaging design, original illustration, digital design, event design, or other stirring examples of design as it intersects with the coffee world. |
| Outstanding Design in Support of a Social Impact Campaign | This award honors outstanding original design in support of social impact. This includes design, social media campaigning, digital production, and any other facet of design that supports a charitable cause, fundraising initiative, crowdfunding campaign or awareness effort. Entry fees are waived for this category. |
For more information, visit the 2023 Sprudge Design Awards official website.
