Blackberry Market
Industry
Food and Beverage
Services Provided
Creative Direction, Website Design, Interior Space Planning and Design, Packaging and Labels
Blackberry Market is a fast-casual restaurant chain that started small with a single suburban Chicago location and has since grown to four successful locations. As a Creative Director at Rule29, I had the privilege of spearheading the development of the Blackberry Market brand from its inception.
From the beginning stages, I worked closely with my internal team of designers, strategists, copywriters to bring the Blackberry Market brand to life. We also engaged several outside vendors to complete different aspects of the project, in which I was required to provide print production management, interior and exterior signage consultation and design, and photoshoot direction. Despite the challenges of working with several different groups, these pieces came together successfully due to clear communication and teamwork.
Approach
One of the key challenges we faced was establishing a brand from the ground up for Blackberry Market as a new business. We tackled this by infusing consistency, warmth, and playfulness into every facet of the brand presentation, ensuring it reflected approachability and established reliability. We also focused on expanding the brand for new locations, which included designing product packaging and creating a harmonious color palette to create a cohesive and familiar visual language.
On the website, we began with research, which clearly presented the need to cater to a strong mobile user audience. This became a driving influence throughout the design process, especially since Blackberry Market would come to be well-know for its daily specials and rotating market sides. Users needed a way to quickly see what was in the case that day, then place an order from their mobile device.
Building a Delicious Brand
After the client selected a logo, as the Creative Director, I worked closely with my design team to build out a comprehensive brand guide, identity materials, a full set of icons, daily market side poster, and various merchandise items.
Additionally, I helped design the packaging system as a series of label templates for the staff to quickly introduce new menu items. Along with custom kraft bags and coffee cups covered in one of the owners’ favorite sayings, the packaging system was so well-received that customers came to regard it as exceptional as the food itself.
Making Space at the Table
Partnering with Two Hands Interiors, I worked with my team to bring both warmth and a casual, story-filled atmosphere to the market itself. We designed easy to read menu boards and added oversized photos to the space as a way to visually showcase the owner’s memories of picking wild blackberries with her family.
Mobile First
Through research and analytics, we discovered 97% of all Blackberry Market's online traffic is from users on a mobile device. As the primary designer on the website, I made sure to optimize the experience for customers on the go. With that said, I was able to keep the desktop site just as user-friendly with easy to navigate tiles for daily specials alongside mouth-watering food photography by Wonderkind Studios.
This project was recognized by the DotComm Awards in the Small Business category.
