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Hackney Gelato Brand Refresh

When Hackney Gelato first briefed me on this project, they were looking to make “tweaks” to their logo and pack designs. By the time we were done, it had become a full brand refresh for both their retail and trade business. It's not often you get a job that involves eating gelato in the name of “research,” but this was one of them.

 

I designed everything for them including packaging and point of sale, fridges and freezers, trade press and t-shirts.

The two main challenges Hackney Gelato asked me to tackle for their retail packs were to give them stronger shelf presence and ensure their brand name was visible over and above any supermarket pricing strips (even the really big ones in Tesco).

 

My initial exploration focused on refining the existing logo, including updating the illustration to better reflect the product. While this looked OK, it didn’t address the core issues. The illustration element of the logo dominated the prime space at the top of pack, limiting the visibility of the brand name. And the restrictive arched shape made it difficult to move “Hackney Gelato” any further up the hierarchy. It became clear more than tweaks were needed.

Hackney Gelato agreed with my recommendations, and after a good chunk of design development (and an unspeakable amount of time reviewing mock-ups in my local freezer aisles), the new-look tubs began to take shape.

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Next I looked at the patterns on each pack. I captured Hackney Gelato’s "chef crafted" aesthetic by handcrafting the artwork. I made prints from pistachios and pecans, covered chopped bananas and cherries in ink and used melted chocolate as paint - like a gelato Jackson Pollock. They make each pack distinctive, showcase the real ingredients used and bring the flavours to life visually.

Once the team at Hackney Gelato HQ were happy with how the tubs were looking, we had to work out how to make the new branding exist in the world outside of retail packaging. We had freezers, point of sale, signage, menus, trade adverts and range catalogues to design - all needing a complete revamp to make everything feel consistent and distinctively Hackney Gelato.

 

The rounds of exploration we looked at for this were extensive, including the development of a common brand pattern, and testing every colour in the rainbow for it's suitability as a solid brand colour. We eventually landed on a classic palette of black, gold and white. A neutral and premium backdrop for a range loaded with colour through their flavours. 

And while all that was going Hackney Gelato decided to launch a completely new range of ice lollies, just to keep me on my toes. See how they turned out here.

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