About
Edinburgh Honey Co. is a family business with a long, over 60-year-old tradition in beekeeping. The business has been brought to Edinburgh from Poland and continues to thrive - spreading awareness about sustainability and the importance of looking after the bees. Honey is imported from Poland as well as sourced locally from Edinburgh Honey apiaries built in Scotland.
Logo re-design idea
Came from introducing the brand to the UK market. Old dated logo and brand which has existed under the Polish name had to be adapted to its 'new home'.
Challenges:
- To overcome owners' fear of establishing a new look without causing the loss of existing clients
- Find a way to keep the product recognised after re-design and packaging change
- Time pressure - we aimed to be ready for the Top Drawer London - the UK's leading design-led trade show.
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Process: Interviews, mood board and sketching ideas.
After multiple interviews with the owners and market research, I took my favourite tools - pen and paper and sketched the ideas.
Pic 1. Pen and paper sketching ideas.
I wrote down the most important points of the meeting in my sketching pad to keep the brief visible while sketching.
With the first attempt, the idea was to keep a Beeman in the logo in order to communicate the reference to an old logo. Soon enough we had to remember that having too many elements will affect the readability of a logo which will be printed in small formats.
While sketching I always remember and visualise how the logo might look on the packaging and other marketing materials.
Pic 2. Four logos versions.
Logo 1 (top left): An old logo
Logo 2 (top right) Logo designed by a different designer - the idea of keeping a Beeman in an emblem logo.
Logo 3 (bottom left): Compromise of both - the project is designed to demonstrate possible difficulties with printing in a minimum size - FAIL.
Logo 4 (bottom right) WINNER: Minimalistic version with hand-drawn, in a botanical style bee which will be used in multiple digital and printing materials.
Dress the honey jars!
We agreed that leaving the style of the packaging but including a new logo + label will keep existing customers familiar with the product. We tested it too by conducting a 'recognition' challenge with some of our customers in the shop by displaying the prototyped small batches of new packaging and asking customers questions.
TOP DRAWER LONDON. We made it on time!
Hard work, efficiency, decision-making, and communication made us make it on time. The project has been a great success - we heard amazing feedback from the Top Drawer London attendees. It proved to us the great job we made!
