As design briefs go they don’t come any sweeter than designing an identity for a gourmet cookie brand. Designers and close friends Kyle Poff and Casey Martin had the arguably not so tough task to sample the product before starting work on the branding.
Beurre & Sel is a New York based bakery space and store by mother and son Dorie and Josh Greenspan who have been baking cookies together for years using local butter and hand-harvested sea salt which give the brand its name and goodness. Josh says:
Cookies are our family’s way of holding on to memories and they’re our way of creating new memories for you, ones you can treasure and share.
Dorie is an accomplished chef and baker who has been writing and reviewing recipes and food critiques for Bon Appetite magazine for the past 18 years. She is also a cookbook author and four-times James Beard Award-winner. She and her team wanted a fresh, simple brand identity to help launch their online and in-store experience and specified a bold logotype with a distinct ampersand.
The Greenspan’s sound like a lovely client to work with as they totally trusted Casey’s and Kyle’s design eye and let them do exactly what they wanted. Kyle tells me that it was a fast turn-around as they were still coming up with the recipes whilst designing the brand. In the end it all came together for them and the store opened to great acclaim in New York’s Essex Street Market.
This is a great example of a client choosing a design expert and having faith in their expertise which clearly shows in the end result. Kyle and Casey came up with a clean, confident and contemporary brand identity reflected in the minimalist packaging of clear tubes with colourful stickers and a mainly white in-store design where the product is displayed in a wall of holes with just the colourful tops showing. Beurre & Sel’s website was designed by Casey who translated the brand’s personality online and kept the navigation simple and the layout uncluttered. My favourite part is the online gallery which shows some beautiful shots of the cookie kitchen and the team behind Dorie and Josh Greenspan.
Such has been Beurre & Sel’s success that they are opening a new bakery and store front at La Marqueta, in East Harlem at the end of 2013. If you’re in the area make sure to pay them a visit and send me a few cookies to sample – I’m an expert and cookie monster.
Enjoy and I hope you’re inspired!
More information | Beurre & Sel
Design & photography | Kyle Poff & Casey Martin