A luxury, heritage brand for a Leicester based bakery

Specialising in rich, indulgent cakes soon to be available in farm shops across the region, Karen Blair Cakes is an artisan producer located on the outskirts of the city. At the time, the business focused on producing bespoke cakes for special occasions, celebrations and corporate events and was looking to expand with a range of fruit cakes and brownies as wholesale products. These delicious cakes would be flavour-focussed using a range of spirits such as rum, whisky as well as a mixture of spices from around the world.

When we first met with business owner Karen, it was clear that the team were looking to produce a brand that would stand out from the competition. Something that would represent their passion for traditional baking but with a modern twist, highlighting their food journey and unique combinations. It also felt appropriate that the logo should have a hand-crafted nature to it with a natural colour palette to reflect the fresh ingredients and small batch production methods being used by the business.

Working with this brief we developed a range of concepts that would then be fine tuned into the finished logo that you see today. You can see a few of the original concepts we shared below.

The developed logo now includes a range of options including detailed and simplified versions for use in different situations and at different scales.

With the logo in place the next task was to develop the brand across a range of packaging solutions and a new landing page for the business using the theme of a 'vintage globetrotter and spice specimen collector'. The designs would celebrate the mixture of spices and spirits sourced from around the world, with colourful vintage illustrations and stamps to depict the locations relevant to each individual recipe.

The first product in question was their rich spiced rum fruit cake. Contained within a circular tin with a clear lid, the packaging solution included a high quality self adhesive label with a tactile, sandy texture and almost matte appearance - perfect for giving the product a unique look and feel whilst complimenting the hand-crafted values of the brand.

Following on from this we focussed on their mouth watering chocolate brownies! Individually packaged in a custom, full colour printed greaseproof paper - these are some of the most professional looking brownies you'll ever come across! Both designs extend the brand's recognisable style and tone across two very different packaging approaches.

Finally, we've produced a simple, responsive web presence for the brand whilst they work on their product development over the coming months. The design of their unique landing page carries their creative use of vintage illustration, recognisable palette and heritage-inspired typography across seamlessly into the digital world.

Karen Blair Cakes have said:

"From the initial design brief to concept and delivery of my new logo design and packaging for my cakes, Root Studio translated my brief into something that will stand out on a shelf and complements my brand whilst maintaining the values of my business. It is a pleasure to work with a design agency that understands your ideas and can translate them into a thing of beauty."

We've thoroughly enjoyed working on the project and look forward to working with Karen Blair Cakes on future projects soon! If you have a new product or business idea that you would like to create a distinctive brand for - please get in touch, we'd love to hear about it!