My friend Jacqui Farina had been a board member and volunteer with Project Angel Food for some time. She called me about an idea she had to create a line of cookies for them and if I would design the brand/packaging for it.
In case you're not aware of Project Angel Food, they cook & deliver more than 13,000 meals a week to men, women and children affected by HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life threatening illnesses. They have their own kitchens here in LA where they create all these meals.
So, the idea of taking a charity bake sale concept to a "Newman's Own" type business model seemed like a total "no-brainer". Needless to say, I said yes.
I started with the understanding that the product line would be positioned as a more giftable gourmet market item vs a mass "chips-ahoy" snack product. Not only because of the price point and quality of the product but to speak to a generally more affluent and/or charitable consumer familiar with Project Angel Food.
With the sub-brand name "Project Angel Food Bakers" we all agreed on, I kept the logo design as close to the organizations branding as possible to ensure the highest brand recognition. The PAFB brand's visual differentiation would be in the execution of other elements.
When eating a cookie all you really care about is if it tastes good. I put together the idea of how much good each cookie sold could do with how good the cookie tastes and came up with "the do-gooding good cookie".
The playfulness of the name felt particularly right for communicating the overall mission of bringing a smile and well-being to people in need and absolve the cookie eater of any quilt for eating as much as they can.
Angel imagery is obviously important to the existing PAF brand. Showing the goodness of the cookie and visually tying it to the charity's brand became clear... make the cookie an angel. Adding the halo helped to focus the idea on "goodness" vs a cookie that just died and went to heaven (no matter how accurate that may be once you bite into one).
Keeping the palette softly bright and most elements white helped keep the mood happy as well as allow the blue logo and the cookie to stand out.
The Do-gooding Good Cookies premier this week, with 100 percent of the purchase price being donated directly back to support Project Angel Food's life-saving meal service in a partnership with Pavilions stores.
Please, check out Project Angel Food's site for more info or to volunteer at www.angelfood.org.
