The Gifted Type

Secondary Brand Identity, Print Materials

Lively brand identity expansion for a creative gift shop

The Gifted Type is a fun & quirky gift shop in downtown Ottawa that promotes creativity and disconnecting from tech. Charlene, the shop owner, came to me feeling that her existing logo didn’t fully reflect the personality of her business. 

Developing the existing brand

The shop's existing logo was elegant and modern, but on its own couldn’t convey the creative, colourful vibe that you encounter once you step inside the store.

During the kickoff brand strategy workshop, we decided that a full re-brand wasn’t necessary. Instead, we decided to take the existing minimalist logo and create a vibrant, enhanced brand around it.

To stay in line with the shop’s ultimate message - unplugging and doing things by hand - I created all of the shop’s new brand elements by hand: I painted watercolour backgrounds and texture marks, and drew the icons for each product category. With a bright new colour scheme and these unique, personal touches, we gave the brand a vivid, refreshed feel.

We applied this new look to the shop's business cards, a set of thank you cards for online orders, a new loyalty program, website banners, social media templates and a poster for the shop’s door with the tagline front and centre.

The result is a lively new look that complements The Gifted Type’s existing minimal logo, but illustrates the shop's energy and mission a lot more clearly. I'm super excited to see Charlene use her new branding to invite more curious, creative and clever customers to the shop!

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