Roasted Stone

Kitchen Tool Brand

3rd Year - 3 Months

In my Product Presentation for Retail Environment course, I had the opportunity to create a kitchen tool brand. This involved many tasks from coming up with a name all the way to creating packaging for the brand. Focusing on the marketing side of product design taught me many lessons on the aesthetic aspects of design.

Brand Creation

Brainstorming

The very first task was to come up with a brand name which is one of the most important part of the brand. I used a veriety of brainstorming techniques in this stage.

Persona: 50 to 70-year-old who is getting ready for retirement. Just bought a vacation home to celebrate a successful career and enjoy relaxation. Wants to buy top-quality products that fit well with the nice new home/cottage.

Narrative: It’s Sunday afternoon, your kids and grandchildren have just left the cottage after a fun but busy weekend of family time. Even though you miss the company, you are looking forward to relaxing in your new cottage. As you walk into the kitchen, a smile is on your face with your perfect kitchen that has luxurious products.

Brand mission: to produce luxurious appliances that fit perfectly into a high-end cottage kitchen environment.

Word associations:

Muskoka: boating, luxury, light wood (Bois), grandparent, chairs, Canadian shield, stone

Cottage: summer, water, warmth, family, Fish, steak, barbeque

gichi-gami = “lake” in Ogibwe

Cottage foods: ribs, hamburger, corn, seasoning, salmon, barriers

Muskoka brands: Stone & timber, Crossroads, Bonfire, Acadian

Brand Storey

Roasted Stone is a luxury kitchenware producer with 30 years of experience serving clients in Muskoka with their crafted products. Due to an influx of new cottage owners in Muskoka, they have decided to re-brand themselves toward the newly retired market who are getting new cottages. In consultation with Max Le Moine Designs, they have identified this new market and have created a persona, Mike and Lisa, to help them through re-branding.

Mike and Lisa have sold their extremely successful corporation and are excited to enjoy retirement. After looking for vacation homes, they settled on a beautiful cottage in the heart of Muskoka. As papers are being signed, reality kicks in when they get many requests from family and friends to come visit the lake. Even though this is exciting, there is pressure to be a good host. The couple wants to buy good products to help them with this social pressure. On top of everything, after working for thirty years while raising four children, Mike and Lisa are tired of having a chaotic kitchen. As they retire, they’re looking to create an environment where they can enjoy themselves and guests. The stress of creating a dream home is constantly on their mind. Lisa wants to buy good products to help her with this social pressure. This will help the couple become favorite hosts for friends and family whose kitchen is envied by many.

Roasted Stone invites cottagers into their brand-new showroom right on Lake Joe. Here, they will be able to speak to experts about Roasted Stone’s top-end products and how they will help create a beautiful cottage. When you purchase a Roasted Stone product, users will be one step closer to their dream kitchen. Clients are invited to fill their kitchens with Roasted Stone kitchenware to make kitchens feel amazing instead of buying an ordinary kitchen product online - not satisfying. Imagine walking into a new kitchen with a sense of joy and pride.

Image from The Toronto Star

Brand Assets

Logo

The Next Piece of the puzzle was my logo and brand assets to represent Roasted Stone. I chose to highlight the R and S in a cursive font to make the letters flow together. After ideating, I divided to create a monogram to be burned onto the products.

With feedback from my professor and fellow designers, I simplified my design and intertwined the letters. My intention for this logo is to make it sophisticated to make it look like it belongs in a 5-star hotel.

Typograph

Cursive and serif typefaces have been selected to reflect the jugglery of the Roasted
Stone Brand. This is used to welcome clients to the brand as if they just entered a resort.

Colours

A monochromatic colour scheme is used to maintain the simplistic theme. A brown accent is also used to
highlight key elements.

Packaging

A key retail location for Roasted Stone is cottage shows where the product needs to be easily brought in and displayed. This tertiary Packaging shows off the product using light and accent
coloring. At the same time, boxed products are easily taken from the lower portion of the design.

For primary package, Roasted Stone uses is made for a single product. This uses the same
styling as the “Twin” modeling maintaining the brand styling. However, it is opened by sliding a
cover off. This provides a physio and psycho-pleasure in the revealing experience.