Packaging for Molly & Me Pecans, Charleston, SC, by Studio Nudge:

Molly & Me produces small-batch pecans from their farm in Holly Hill, SC. With a growing customer base, they came to us looking for a rebrand, complete with packaging and an e-commerce website. Utilizing a heavily typographic approach, that feels both classic and bold, we created a refined visual identity that speaks to the gourmet natural of their products.

Christopher Simmons of The Message Is Medium Rare:

“Like their burger, the Wise Sons menu features an eclectic mix of typographic flavors that pair effortlessly with one another. Copperplate is the nostalgic standard used for the headings. It establishes Wise Sons in the tradition of the neighborhood deli — proud but unassuming. Refined but accessible. Fastidious but friendly. The descriptions are set in Brandon Grotesque — a Futura lookalike whose rounded corners give it a less authoritarian feel than its ’20s-era antecedent. The script, Royal Script, is an unpredictable but inspired choice. Like a garnish it is used selectively (for prices and a few callouts) to provide contrast to the more substantive portions of the menu.

I used to think that Copperplate was an inherently bad typeface. I had a pretty closed mind about Bank Gothic, too, until we finally found a place to (almost) use it. In college I let a friend convince me that Franklin Gothic was ugly. Most designers will tell you that Mistral is an abomination. Mrs Eaves is too nineties. Gotham is too recognizable. Times New Roman is boring. The point is, we are too often limited by what we think we know. Too often we accept rules without testing them (or making them) ourselves. It’s generally better to make your mind up about something after you’ve tried it rather than before.”

A collaboration between Sawdust, art director Andrew Stellitano and photographer Dominic Davies based on bringing typography and food together.

The concept typographically depicts the three main stages of the narrative in Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth structure: Departure, Initiation and Return. The Monomyth is a basic pattern for events that its proponents argue is found in many narratives from around the world.

We were tasked with developing letterforms that would eventually be laser cut from pasta and beautifully shot by still life photographer Dominic Davies. Each of the three final artworks were constructed using real laser cut pasta (for the letterforms) and raw ingredients.

Takes a lot of guts to set all the type on this cover in FF Prater. It doesn’t all work, but I respect the adventurous spirit. Lettering would be better, but much more expensive and maybe deadline prohibitive. At least the fonts offer a few alts and ligs to keep the handwriting simulation from getting too monotonous, though it doesn’t look like the designers used them as much as they could.

The Beer Institute was organized in 1986 to represent the beer industry in the US. They recently got a new identity and website from 3 Advertising. The logo — featuring Mayo, a softened Trade Gothic Bold Condensed No. 2, and a nice pictogram-style illustration representing basic beer ingredients — is fashioned in the Hip Traditional style currently favored by craft brewers and their customers. 

Supporting the identity in the stationery is Archer. The typeface may be a tad twee for beer folk, but it does echo the monoline strokes of the logo. It also survives an extra-deep letterpress impression on the business cards.

The logo starred in a segment on The Daily Show.

Il Buco Alimentari and Vineria, an Italian trattoria in New York City, uses Alright Sans for its headlines.

For the rest, Mucca specified One Atlantic, a custom typeface which originally was commissioned from Darden Studio for another project. By now, it is available to everyone under its retail name Dapifer.

“Delicious drink mixes to poison your night and the tasty breakfast antidotes to ease the morning pain. This set of 6 double sided coasters features popular drink mixes on one side, and the breakfast recipe to cure the hangover it causes the next morning. Drink too many vodka-filled ‘Ninja Turtles’? A breakfast with ‘The Shredder’ should help sop up all your shame.

Each coaster set comes with a title coaster, 6 popular drink concoctions, and 6 hangover-curing breakfast recipes. They are screenprinted on ultra thick blotter paper made specifically for sopping up condensation. Coasters are formatted with an ingredient list, preparation guide, and short description featuring fun facts or history of the item.”

— Fifty Five Hi’s

Branding for a producer of pork and poultry products, seen on Brand New.

The front door.

To be honest, this stopped me because I thought it was Zamenhof — turns out to be Polarband. I like the touch of Creamy Script. It’s a great example of why there's no excuse for using free scripts or recycling familiar styles. Sure, it's merely two words, but this use adds a hit of originality. Unfortunately, it’s not used on their street sign.

Polarband has three styles, including a Back (solid) style that was used for the small HC. Its boldness (small apertures) most likely prevented it from being used within the banners.

Note the “CANNOLI” inside the store. I think that was written on a chalkboard. Oh, and I can’t yet verify if their delicacies are legit. I’ll report back.

Walking on 3rd Ave in Belltown, this caught my attention from a block away.

Gather Journal is a “bi-annual recipe-driven food publication devoted not just to cooking and eating, but to what those acts inspire: the bringing of people together.”

If you were to design a traditional mom-and-pop butcher shop, Brothers is a natural place to start. The typeface, by legendary American sign painter John Downer, is endowed with his old-school craftsman values. Austin-based Ptarmak built the Chop Shop branding around Brothers, including its turn-of-the-century graphical elements, arrows, and panels.

The bold and basic Futura Script — an Intertype face from the 1950s that was likely named for marketing purposes — is a nice accent, though I question Ptarmak’s decision to slant it, or to use another script for “The”. That typeface is a cleaned up freebie that was once offered as OPTI Sport Script (later published by Castcraft). MVB Mascot, Metroscript, Machiarge and Fenway Park are better variations on the theme. Also used are Univers and the routine industrial sans Trade Gothic. They all work just fine, but it’s the considerate identity package as a whole, and the way it’s photographed, that wins me over.

In fact, the materials are so consistent and unencumbered by the usual client compromises that one wonders if there ever was a real client involved. (The chopshop.com URL on the posters go nowhere and Kansas City searches went dry.) Perhaps the business never got off the ground. If this was simply a show-off project, Ptarmak can be forgiven — it shows them off well. The mythical meat market made the blogosphere rounds all year long.

The imaginary identity campaign includes everything, down to the butchers’ hats and aprons.

Click to enlarge.