hood+searle is a branding and packaging design studio founded by two friends who share a passion for art, design, and human creativity.
about us
Hood+Searle is the brain child of graphic designers and long-time friends, Brandon Hood and Aidan Searle. Our design studio, like our friendship, is fuelled by a shared passion for art, design, human creativity—and great food.
Embracing the blurry line between art and design, we push ourselves to think outside convention and infuse our work with an artful sense of play. Often incorporating hand-made elements, we seek to amplify the human traits of brands and distill the essence of their founders' visions into thoughtful visual identities and packaging.
We specialize in the food and beverage industry because food excites us. Our branding and packaging design work allows us to transform crazy ideas into realities and bring high-quality products crafted by ethical producers into the hands of fellow humans.
clients
CBC
Blue Lobster
Lost Bell
Advertising Week
Annapolis Cider Co.
Ada Culinary Studio
Canoe Cove
Kitako Lake Honey
services
brand strategy
"Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat."-Sun Tzu
We believe the most successful brands are built upon great strategy. We work closely with our clients to establish clear brand positioning and strategy prior to beginning design. This solid foundation ensures the decisions we make strategically amplify the essence of your brand and its goals.
Following a comprehensive discovery meeting, intensive brand workshop, and internal research process, we will deliver a tailored strategy for your brand backed by insight.
visual identity design
Visual identity design is most commonly mistaken as branding. It is not branding. Branding is a combination of dynamic functions that contribute to the overall impression of a real entity or "brand". A visual identity, is one (albeit, very important) aspect of your brand.
It encompasses the creation of logos, color palettes, typography, bespoke imagery, and their specified application in the real world ensuring consistency across all of your brand touchpoints. A well-crafted and applied visual identity establishes brand recognition, fosters trust, communicates your messaging and leaves a lasting impression.
We create flexible, comprehensive visual identities across all brand touch-points in the physical and digital space. Together, we will establish all requirements for your visual identity and review every element that will require it's application. Leveraging our experience, we will also make suggestions on assets that could improve your visual communication and increase the value you provide to your audience.
packaging design
We work with food. Food requires packaging and we love to design it. Packaging serves a multifaceted role: captivating attention, protecting the product, displaying product attributes, adhering to legal requirements, and communicating brand identity. It is all of these elements that we consider when designing a package.
From concept to production, we will ensure your packaging serves all the roles it needs to play, while still feeling uniquely like your brand. We've shipped many packaging designs, seeing them through to production and we have learned (mostly the hard way) about how to make this process seamless. Check out our process below to understand what working with us looks like.
process
discovery
Our journey begins with a deep dive into your world. We'll sit down for a chat to truly understand your vision and the essence of your brand. We’ll provide you with tailored questions and prompts in advance of this chat to make sure we get the most out of the conversation.
You can expect us to chat about aesthetics, the history of your company, your target audience, your product, and the unique value you are bringing to the market. We will also delve into the landscape of your industry uncovering unique opportunities for your brand.
research+strategy
Informed by our discovery insights, we begin our research by amassing information in a vast number of subjects. This may encompass thorough market analysis, exploration of production methods, digging into typography, or even understanding the molecular science behind your product. This research allows us to analyze the full picture and make interesting (sometimes counterintuitive) connections that will inform our strategy.
The strategy, once developed will guide the creative process. It defines the brand's positioning in the market, helps crafting key messaging strategies, and determines the visual identity direction.
concept design
With the strategic foundation in place, the concept development phase begins. We engage in brainstorming sessions to generate creative ideas and explore various design directions. Initial concepts are sketched out and wireframed, allowing for rapid iteration and internal feedback. Once we have landed on a concept that feels appropriate and excites us, we are ready to bring you in for a first look! During your first look, we will talk through the concept, design rationale and how it best supports the brand strategy.
design refinement
With your feedback on the initial concept, we refine our design further while applying it to real-world mockups. Physical collateral design, including displays, billboards, sales materials, business cards, letterheads, and packaging, is developed in tandem with digital collateral ( ie website, social media) to ensure consistency across all brand touch-points.
At the end of this phase, we will have developed the final visual identity and/or package design have a strong understanding of how it will look in the real world.
production+implementation
In the final phase of the process, designs are prepared for production and implementation. Physical materials such as signage, merchandise, and packaging are prepared, printed, and manufactured according to the finalized designs. Simultaneously, digital implementation takes place across various platforms, including websites, social media, and email campaigns.
The visual identity we create will be turned into comprehensive visual identity guidelines that provide clear instructions on the proper usage of brand elements, ensuring consistency and coherence in all brand visual communications. If Hood+Searle is not maintaining your visual communications after our engagement, these guidelines will be necessary for all future designers in maintaining consistency.