JEMBER CIGARS branding and packaging
Indonesia is one of the world’s biggest producers of quality tobacco. Unfortunately Indonesia is not well known for its cigars compared to the market leaders - Cuba and the Dominican Republic. A free-falling economy since the autumn of 1997 has made life very difficult for the 5 million inhabitants of the tobacco city Jember and the 220 million citizens ofIndonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation.
The development of this product is meant to support people in Indonesia by creating more workplaces for professional cigar makers who were left without a job due to failing economy and strong competition fromCuba and the Dominican Republic. It is planned to be a Fairtrade product and a significant share of the profit would go back to the people that produced the cigars. Most Fairtrade products fail to address the high-end market segment. I wanted to show that a Fairtrade product doesn’t need to look “cheap”. You can buy exclusive and high-quality goods and still be able to help people in developing countries.
The logo was inspired by Indonesian temples. Borobudur temple has cone shaped monuments, while Pura Ulun Danu Bratan temple has a pyramid shape. Both temples consist of multiple layers, each layer has it own simple pattern. Layers are also a prominent feature of cigars. The logo resembles the top view of Borobudur temple’s monuments but also looks like a cut cigar.
