Brand Identity That Mirrors Craft
When celebrated Vancouver Chef Colin Johnson stepped away from award-winning restaurants to launch his boutique wholesale charcuterie venture, Le Petit Chapeau, he needed an identity that mirrored his craft. The objective was to design a comprehensive branding system—including primary emblems, sub-brands, and custom illustrations—that bridges traditional French culinary heritage with a playful, contemporary spirit.
Emblem: Designed to communicate heritage, tradition, and a touch of modern whimsy, Le Petit Chapeau's primary brand mark integrates a vintage butcher crest with a line drawing of a personified pig. • Typography: Featuring the expressive, book-inspired Marion serif typeface to capture a historical yet contemporary feel. • Colour Palette: A balanced mix of dark sage green, soft dusty pink, antique cream, and wool grey, evoking old-world charm with a contemporary sensibility that feels instantly inviting.
Mascot: Meet Henry, a jovial yet distinguished pig wearing the English chef’s signature tweed newsboy cap. Henry's personality was captured first through pencil sketches, refined with felt tip drawings, and detailed with his tweed cap and monocle using tracing paper overlays. The finalized illustration was vectorized to serve as the focal point for both the primary crest and standalone treatments.
Monogram Logo: Le Petit Chapeau's LPC monogram is designed specifically for use as a digital favicon. Utilizing the Marion typeface, the letters feature an intentional offset alignment to evoke a sense of unexpected charm at a small scale.
Combination Mark: Designed for Le Petit Chapeau’s expanding line of gourmet food products beyond traditional charcuterie. To establish a standalone logo for future offerings, I isolated the chef's signature newsboy cap as the primary icon, pairing it with the Marion serif font. A clean, all-caps sans-serif typeface was introduced for "Gourmet Foods" to lend a slightly more structured, corporate anchor to the sub-brand.
Brand Collateral: Le Petit Chapeau emblem stickers are applied directly to artisanal terrines wrapped in butcher paper. The nostalgic packaging is secured with red-and-white baker's twine and anchored by a vintage manila tag featuring handwritten labels.
