Branding strategies in specialty coffee package design: semiotic analysis of visual and verbal signs

Abstract

Packaging is a medium that encourages customers to discover brands and products at the point of sale. It materializes brand identities, communicates product attributes, and thus translates aesthetic and symbolic cultural meanings. How can we explore the different layers of meanings that specialty coffee packaging communicates to consumers? In this manuscript, we apply Peircean semiotic concepts to investigate how different visual and verbal signs are integral to the construction of specialty coffee packaging design in the Brazilian market. We argue that semiotic analysis enriches the understanding of the meanings that the packages construct, considering their communicative potentials and their interactions with consumers during the shopping experience.