Branding standards refresh. Project launched with 4 catalogs, 3 sales sheets, business cards. Followed by trade show booth, staging for pastry samples. Provided all new standards, brand mark refresh, full design layout and delivered final docs to printer.

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For this brand refresh, the client was already well established within Canada for over 60 years. As a brand with a long heritage we took great care in evolving the brand standards. 

 

The original request was to utilize the their existing logo. During the first meeting while visiting their head office, the brand owners referenced their boardroom's newly painted red wall as the target colour for their brand evolution. However, upon close inspection we noticed that none of their logos (nor any recent collateral) actually matched the new paint colour. With these glaring mismatched colours we took the opportunity to define a proper PMS colour in order to provide the client with accurate CMYK and RGB equivalents for their desired colour target.

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The new red was much bolder presenting as a modern vibrant cherry red, versus their legacy burgundy red that looked very dated. By assigning the new PMS colour we were able to improve the water colour treatment within the logo and define 2 simplified gradient screens of the new red instead of the muddy version of the old one. By assigning exact gradient screens for the PMS red it will facilitate the water colour simulation with future print scenarios providing more predictive print results.

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The client was also missing a proper vector file of their logo they only had a pixellated version on hand. We took this opportunity to clean up the small fine lines that extended the logo far too wide tightening those loose elements to improve printability. The wording was also finessed by shortening the letter p's descender and bolding each character; this in turn helps readability for the future packaging and strengthened the brand mark's presence.

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When we approached the brand mark refinements we retained the original design, keeping the spirit of the mark in tact. The illustration was a very old watercolour + ink treatment and truly lovely, intended to represent a stone oven. The pen script was also hand drawn and very unique. We strongly felt there was great value in the logo and that it simply needed a makeover to bring out its best features. Once completed, the client's stakeholders were all pleased with the end result and felt the brand was rejuvenated without tossing out the core essence of heritage.

 

With the catalogs and sales sheets, we carefully crafted the broader messaging. We interviewed the team to better grasp their business offering and translated their USP with more succinct wording. We also coined their own industry-specific terminology; this provided the sales reps with smarter catch phrases and a consistent verbal script when presenting at tradeshows and future pitches.

 

Created a much more consistent collateral treatment in order to showcase stronger at tradeshows. Overall photography already existed, both the lifestyle hero images and insitu product shots. Initially the client felt the photographs looked dated; however, we were confident we could leverage them. The new collateral treatment along with the bold red revived the photographs from their stale presentation, client fell in love with their photography all over again. This was a huge cost savings for them as they have several hundred products with all the different combinations of pastries and flavours. We simply provided them direction for their existing photographer and we will be on-hand to art direct the future shoots to ensure consistency.

 

For the recent IDDBA 2026 we leveraged the bold red and sourced a crisp white cake stand to feature their latest feature pastry. The cake stand literally and figuratively elevated the pastry's presentation where it would be featured inside a glass case at the show's main entrance. The client loved the treatment so much and asked to replicate the same presentation inside their actual booth. 

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With these newly minted brand standards, the client is now well positioned to update their CPG packaging in the near future.