Straight Forward has designed brand identity and packaging for Gigi, an innovative plant-based Italian-style gelato. Interest in plant-based eating is soaring, and Gigi spotted a gap in the market for a gelato that's jam-packed with vitality-boosting nutrients, as well as being rewarding and delicious. The gelato is made with cold-pressed fruit and veg to lock in all the goodness, and cutting-edge production processes to give it a rich, 'creamy' and satisfying taste appeal.
The Straight Forward Design team recognized that Gigi is a category-changing product, and the brand and packaging identity needed to reflect that. The result shows how 'health' and 'indulgence' design cues can be combined effectively, getting across to consumers this product is both nutrient-rich and delicious.
Typically, design language in the ice-cream sector goes heavy on indulgence, while health foods get wrapped up in conspicuous virtue-signaling. "We sought to find a sweet spot between the two and developed a new visual language to support that," said Mike Foster, Creative Director, Straight Forward Design. "A lot of non-dairy ices are full of unhealthy ingredients, so it was important to set Gigi apart and create a strong foundation for future growth."
Taking inspiration from heritage Italian design cues, hand-painted watercolor illustrations confidently celebrate the natural, plant-based ingredients upfront, and make a virtue of the interesting and surprising flavor combinations.
Steering away from some of the more elaborate naming strategies to be found in the sector, Gigi product names have been delivered in an open, friendly font to communicate brand authenticity. Soft colorways support the illustrations and make each variant stand apart while offering cohesion across the whole range. And an image of the product on pack shows clearly that this has an authentic ice cream-like texture. Finally, the combination of confident brand identity and strong product story using illustrations creates brand-blocking opportunities and sets Gigi up to flex and grow.
