The Hippie Hut

Branding Study

2023

The Hippie Hut is a wellness & lifestyle boutique offering high-quality personal care and household products, standing out with their in-house artisanal soaps. I branded this business concept in one semester under the supervision of faculty member, Laura Cherry, for the Honors Program at Madison College. The goal of this project was to build a strong brand identity with select deliverables & present it as a pre-established business.

ADOBE XD | ILLUSTRATOR | PHOTOSHOP

DELIVERABLES:

• Logo suite
• Website landing page
• Social media assets (8)
• Any additional assets

FEEL:

60s vintage, warm, groovy, modern, botanical

I wanted to stick closely to the principles of a successful logo design but leave room for playfulness. There's a unique pressure placed on a logo & it was my goal to not lose myself under that pressure & keep my focus broadened on the brand as a whole to avoid cramming its entire identity into a singular element. I sketched several iterations & finally narrowed it down to two custom letterings cut-out from cardstock paired with the typeface Ground Castle Demo & an icon inspired by a fresh magnolia flower, logo mark versatility being a high priority.

PROBLEM(S):

Building a brand from scratch as a young designer loomed over me. I met with Laura weekly for progress check-ins, emotional support, & critiques, all critical to the success of this project. With a hard deadline circled in red on my calendar, I put my head against the grindstone mind-mapping, sketching, & tacked together a vision board colorful with possibility, asking myself "Who is The Hippie Hut? Why are they in business? Who do I want to walk through the door?". I broke ground with my logo suite & slowly branched out from there.

CONCLUSION:

Week-by-week, The Hippie Hut grew from graphite scratches into beautiful mockups featuring comforting blues & creams with a welcoming on-site & online store presence keeping the front door jingling merrily. Shouldering this project taught me valuable Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator practices, project management, the absolute necessity of the drafting stage, the power of creative collaboration, & provided me a strong work study of the distinct pillars in developing & maintaining a successful brand identity. Above all else, my passion for brand design blossomed definitively.