Thursday, January 24, 2013

A Southern Tradition

It's no secret we're big nerds when it comes to all things retro and vintage (and we will wave that flag proudly), so when our friend and business associate Eric Rion of Willa's Shortbread approached us with the task of re-designing his line of shortbread cookies, we got so excited we had to change our pocket protectors.

For over 30 years, Willa’s Shortbread has produced the finest Shortbread cookies and Cheese Biscuits using traditional southern recipes and with family guarded attention to detail and quality. It all started with Grandma Willa baking traditional shortbread in her kitchen. As the demand and popularity for her famous shortbread grew, she adapted her recipe to produce cookies, and later, cheese biscuits. Today, Willa's Shortbread continues to carry on the tradition of high quality products made by hand in small batches with only the simplest, all natural ingredients (and yes, you really can pronounce them all). 



















In order to celebrate the heritage of Willa's Shortbread cookies, we wanted to produce something that felt old-fashioned, southern, and nostalgic. Our inspiration came from old decorative tins that were re-purposed long after the product inside was consumed/used (remember those tins that sat on top of your grandmother's refrigerator? or how about that tin of nails, screws, and various metal pieces your grandfather used to keep in the garage)?

So we wiped the cookie crumbs off our desks and got to work! We started with the metal tins and extended the look to small limited-color kraft boxes. Hand-rendered typography along with warm, buttery colors reflected the artisan goodness inside. Also, since they produce so many flavors, we wanted to give Eric the flexibility to change or add flavors along the way. We designed the packaging to stand on it's own, but also designed flavor seals, each one hand-rendered and with its own unique personality/flavor cues and color. We didn't stop there, we also re-designed their logo to finish off the look.





Creative Director: Joel Anderson
Designer and Illustrator: Ligia Teodosiu
Photography: Edward Patton

4 comments:

  1. Love it! Looks great.

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  2. Let's see some close-ups of the flavor seals! They look good from a distance, so I'd love to see the type up close.

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  3. You guys are awesome. I love all your designs!

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