Kent Scoops
BRAND IDENTITY, PACKAGING, PRINT, MOTION
Objective: Build a brand identity for a new ice cream shop that captures the experience of choosing your own toppings. A system playful enough to feel like the shop itself.
Audience: Families and locals that live in Kent, Connecticut.
Strategy & Concept
Ice cream shops live or die on personality. Kent Scoops is built around the part of the experience that already creates joy: choosing what goes on top. Bold color, graphic shapes, and illustrated toppings turn the visual system into an extension of the counter itself, where variety and play are the whole point. The system was designed to scale across signage, social, print, and packaging, flexible enough to support a small-town ice cream shop without losing its character as it grows.
Moodboard & Initial Sketches
I knew early it shouldn't feel cute or premium. References leaned expressive wordmarks, drippy fluid motifs, flat saturated color, brands with a point of view. Then I sketched. Typefaces, shapes that read as ice cream, ways the mark could carry customization. Scoops, drips, the mix-and-match feel of building your own.
Logo iterations
Sketches moved to digital, then up for team critique. Feedback narrowed the field and pushed me on color, letterforms, and type. I focused on the wordmark first, letters only, pushing for playfulness and a scoop-like feel. Then the drip as a holding shape, with notes of customization. A cherry, maybe sprinkles. Color came last, tied to the shop's core flavors: mint, strawberry, blueberry.
Social Icon Exploration
Tested a range of icon options, but landed on the cherry. It's the last thing you add, the choice that makes a scoop yours, which is what Kent Scoops is about. So we zoomed in on that. Final social icon below.
Opening Soon Posters
A few early directions: perspective, abstract shapes, illustration. Then I landed on the one that fit, illustrated flavor combinations, different toppings on different scoops.
Packaging Extension
Beyond the original client scope, I extended the identity into pint packaging to push the system further into retail and product applications. The pint art pulls straight from the posters, same drips, flavor illustrations, and color, adapted for a shelf instead of a wall.