Today we went to the beautiful La Paz waterfall gardens and saw majestic waterfalls, beautiful wildlife, and reptile exhibits that made my skin crawl.

In my topic of design and launch, we have learned a lot from the site visits. Specifically, at the farms, we learned how sustainability can be related to our topic. We learned that many of these companies take a specific approach to protecting the environment and creating biodiversity as best as they can because it is something that they value. Through this lens, we saw how this dedication to the environment manifests itself in the design of the packaging as they are environmentally friendly to the fullest extent with the current present technology.

Through the procesing mills and exporting we learned how the packagaing contributes to the shelf life of the good and how this impacts the exportation. This goes along with what we saw at the farms with the packaging being created to be as eco-friendly as possible but exporting is where the flaws in “too” eco-friendly packaging begin to show.

In terms of the roasters, retail stores, and cafe’s, design and launch is all about how they are presented to the public. Firstly, at cafe Britt we see that they use beautiful bags that reflect the nature in which the beans were grown. Second, they showcase their dedication to the environment on the bags. Lastly, they give out free samples which is a great way to bring in new costumers.

Finally, costumers are of course the main target for design and launch and many of the same concepts apply to solo costumers as to roasters and retail stores except one, brand loyalty. This is created through a high quality bean and a similar cause that it belived in.

Before this trip, I did not drink coffee. I still don’t. But I have become very romantic about it. The connections that people have to these drinks and their dedication to making them as wonderful as possible for others to enjoy is inspiring.

I am so upset that our time here is almost over. Hopefully, one day, I’ll be back.