Deadstock Coffee
Three days. One iconic Portland brand. A new identity built to evolve with culture.
Deadstock Coffee spent a decade building community around coffee, culture, and sneakers. For our fourth Build Week sprint, we partnered with the Deadstock team to reimagine their brand, redesign their digital experience, and define what’s next.
The Challenge
Deadstock isn't your average neighborhood café. It's where founder Ian Williams pours every idea he's got: farm-direct coffee, streetwear collabs, run clubs, block parties.
After a decade of success, the business had outgrown its creative system. The challenge wasn't reinvention, it was building an identity that felt unmistakably Deadstock while empowering the brand to keep growing.
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A sprint designed for momentum
Most rebrands take months. Build Week takes three days. It’s Instrument's award-winning pro bono sprint that compresses the creative process into one intensive collaboration where strategists, designers, technologists, writers, and clients work side by side, making calls in real time. The speed comes from being in one room, all hands on deck, all day long, driving immediate results.
Build Week is Instrument's chance to give back to the Portland community. This time, we went a step further, bringing in design students from Portland State University to participate alongside our team.
Building on what people already loved
Before Deadstock was a coffee company, Ian Williams designed one of Nike SB's most iconic sneakers: the Custodian Pack, inspired by a yellow "wet floor" sign. That yellow became Deadstock's signature.
Instead of reinventing the brand, we amplified what people already loved. The brand is now bolder, more flexible, and more expressive, without losing what made it Deadstock.
Designing a flagship experience
This was bigger than a website redesign. We needed to build the flagship expression of the Deadstock brand.
The site is the first touchpoint for a community that gathers for diverse reasons. Café info and ecommerce are just a piece of it. There needed to be room for stories, events, culture, and more.
A system made to keep moving
Deadstock's new identity is built to play well with others. Ian's team never stops shipping: web updates, packaging, merch, collab drops, social posts, event materials, photography.
The brand handoff is flexible enough that anyone — from expert vendors to busy baristas — can create something that feels unmistakably Deadstock.
Thinking beyond the brief
The most interesting ideas often begin where the first solution ends. For Deadstock, we went beyond the brief to bring the brand system to life.
Deadstock Social Studio: A stronger visual language shouldn't mean needing a designer for every post. So we built a custom tool that knows the brand system inside and out and spits out social-ready creative that's always on-brand.
Drip n' Dunk: Deadstock has always rewarded people who pay attention, so the website does too. Hidden inside is Drip n' Dunk, a playable mini-game stacked with easter eggs only longtime fans will catch: wet floor signs, the Drip Whip, Clippers coach Ty Lue, a Douglas fir, and more.
The Build Week effect
Build Week gives us permission to work differently. To move faster, stay closer to our collaborators, and explore ideas that wouldn't survive a traditional timeline. Deadstock was the perfect partner for that kind of experiment because they believe, like we do, that culture is built by people willing to make something a little unexpected.
After just three days, Deadstock left Build Week with a brand foundation and visual identity built for what's next, comprehensive brand guidelines and motion principles, merch concepts and launch-ready assets, a custom AI-powered asset generator for social content, and an interactive ecommerce experience designed to grow with the business.
The momentum continued after launch. Comparing the post-launch period (May 20–July 31) with the preceding period (March 8–May 19), the new site drove a 79% increase in homepage sessions, an 81% increase in Add to Cart actions, a 40% increase in users reaching checkout, and a **125% increase in desktop sessions.
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For small business owners, these are often journeys that have no end. We start something, or we find someone to do something for us. Then we get discouraged by the length of time or tasks needed. But nope. Not this time! The skills of the team, and the amount of time they achieved it in was incredible. And the best part was that they all genuinely cared about the work. Truly inspiring.
Our Roles
Design
- Brand Refresh
- Brand Book
- Creative Direction
- Interaction Design
- Game Design
Content
- Voice and Tone Guidelines
- Product Photography
- UGC Social Templates
Development
- Custom Web Tool
- Easter Egg Video Game
- Shopify Custom Template