In spring of 2021, I lead Home Chef’s Creative team in a brand exploration and ultimate refresh. The team’s ultimate goals were for the brand to stay relevant, inject more personality into our materials, and visualize an approachable product.
Team
Design: Serena Moy, Emily Bass, Celia Bizien, Karrah Toby,
Nicole Timmerman
Copy: Michelle Castro
Photo + Video: Mike Matthews
Brainstorm and Competitive Research
Concepting
Inspiration was distilled and grouped, to begin forming loose mood boards. Each of three mood boards was assigned to a designer and writer to explore and refine. The work was then presented to the internal Brand team, in order of their level of risk: one “safe” and close in, one completely new and inventive, and a middle ground between the two.
Refinement and Consumer Testing
Home Chef’s Brand team decided to pursue concept 2, with tweaks. The team wanted to see iterations of the logo, as well as exploration of typography and iconography. Once edits were made, consumer testing began through focus groups, as well as live environments like Meta.
Results and Launch
58% of respondents preferred the new look and feel versus current. The new look demonstrated a higher likelihood to drive behavior and change, and was deemed more unique and authentic. Source: Zappi Screen-It Test
With positive and do-no-harm sentiments, the team developed detailed brand guidelines, and launched a slow rollout of the updated brand.
