Role: Illustrator & Graphic Designer
Studio: Ideaville
Creative Director:
Client: Street Roots

We partnered up with Street Roots and began to look for a way to create more opportunity and revenue for the company and the homeless community in Portland. With many ideas from one-for-one hotel models to beer, we decided coffee is an established thriving opportunity. With Street Roots, we wanted to create advocacy, break misconceptions, and show that the homeless community is just like us. Street Roast is a series of three coffee bag designs: The Poet, Artisan and Messenger. These are all roles people in the homeless community play a part in. They are aspects that are a part of creating the Street Roots newspaper. 

Along with ideating and helping with decision making in every aspect, I mainly focused on the development of characters and illustrating the human forms. I went through many drafts and illustrating techniques. We settled on a punk and modest tattoo aesthetic that could be relateable to the homeless community and the Street Roots supporters. The Messenger, Artisan and Poet all were inspired by actual people and roles within the Street Roots community. To capture these characters, I would first sketch the character out then render them in Illustrator, adjusting them until they captured realism and life. My partner would then go in and enhance the line weights and add texture to give the illustrations the grungy look we were going for.

STREET ROAST

Is a true stimulus package: Every bag sold generates additional income for Street Roots, a nonprofit that creates opportunities for people experiencing homelessness and poverty.

THE MESSENGER

Standing on street corners around the Portland metro area, Street Roots vendors are delivering much more than a newspaper. These vendors are messengers of hope, community, resilience and opportunity.

THE ARTISAN

Street Roots vendors work hard every day to rebuild their lives and contribute to their community in a positive way. Building community with the public to create authentic relationships and create social change makes the perfect artisan.

THE POET

Street Roots hosts a weekly creative writing group to create poetry and other works. Self-expression is a tool vendors use to create self-worth and hope in the world we live. Poetry is published in the newspaper and featured in the annual zine sold during the winter holiday season.