coletta gelato
Two friends and graduates of gelato school (yep, that's a real thing) were opening their own shop in San Francisco. A logo had already been completed, but they were looking for a more comprehensive branding system, color palette and fonts, and some revision work to the existing logo. These partners and official gelato chefs were focused on bringing only the highest quality authentic Italian style gelato to the area. Their location included a clean-room to work with completely untainted and temperature controlled ingredients, all to make artisanal gelato that would take you straight to Italy. As a frequent eater of frozen dairy treats, I can attest that Coletta’s natural mint chocolate chip gelato beat any other comparable version out there. I may have consumed a few takeaway pints all by myself… for research, of course.
EXECUTION
The logo direction itself was largely decided, but while working for Unit Partners, I sketched and digitized the revisions, which included among other tweaks a finished tail on the capital, lengthened crossbars on the t’s, and more parallel axes to improve flow.
The palette for the brand centered around a pleasant, not overly saturated peach hue which gave sweetness and delicacy like a light sorbet, balanced by muted browns in the form of wood or kraft paper texture. Other colors made appearances in a custom pattern of ingredient icons I designed. The dominant peach became the signature color on everything from the business cards and pint labels to the shop’s paint color.
I designed the exterior paint plan and signage structures, including the wood planks and dimensional logo, and a large mural panel of gelato facts on the interior. Other extensions of the branding I designed included labels for back-of-house tubs ready for serving, B2B pitch deck and brochure, business cards, pint labels, and branding for their event and mobile service. Coletta used a bicycle-powered gelato cart and smaller 2-flavor mobile carts for large and small events all around San Francisco.
