Sweet Magnolia Ice Cream Co. Branding Sneak Peek

Not long ago, we presented with a very delicious opportunity; branding for Sweet Magnolia Ice Cream Co. The new venture envisioned by Hugh Balthrop, would be a vintage ice cream parlor with a fresh, clean, friendly, welcoming environment that sells artisan, handmade, local ingredients, grass fed/organic diary, fresh ice cream, frozen yogurt, gelato, sorbet, etc. With unique, Southern flavors like sweet potato pie ice cream, figs and strawberries frozen yogurt, sweet tea sorbet, pecan pie ice cream, drizzled chocolate gelato, tea cake vanilla ice cream and lemon straw frozen yogurt, we just couldn't wait to sink our teeth (or spoons) into this project.

For our initial logo sketches, we pursued a wide range of concepts. We wanted to use typography that felt old and charming with illustrative touches. Our client Hugh felt drawn most to the bottom center sketch, one created by Ligia Teodosiu, one of our staff designers.

Ligia got to work on the second round by using parts and pieces of the original sketch as an inspiration and platform to explore all possible logo options. In the end, Hugh went back to his original favorite (as well as ours). The logo was polished up and finished out with colors that reminded us of warm Southern hospitality, with rich vanilla and butterscotch flavors, and a dollop of old world charm.

Now that the logo is complete, we are in the process of applying this same look to business cards, store signs, labels and other goodies as a cherry on top! Stay tuned for more to come!