The Woofing Oven Dog Bakery: Brand Packaging Design

The Woofing Oven is a Dublin-based home-run bakery for dogs, crafting a fun and creative range of gourmet treats to pamper your furry friends with the love and care they deserve.

The Woofing Oven firmly craft their dog treats with love, care, and thoughtfulness. All of their products are homemade and created in small batches, reaffirming their commitment to producing celebratory dog treats made from 100% natural ingredients, locally sourced, and proudly the first specialised treats produced and marketed in Ireland.

Their mission is to become Ireland’s foremost dog bakery, expanding their product range while remaining dedicated to their goal of being a part of your dog’s milestone moments.

The Woofing Oven’s packaging design challenge was to create a visually striking, retail-ready package that reflects the brand’s fun, celebratory nature while emphasizing its commitment to quality, natural ingredients, and Irish craftsmanship. The existing brand (formerly known as Bon A Pet Treats) needed a fresh identity that would stand out in a crowded dog food aisle, making the transition from local markets to mainstream retail.

The packaging had to balance playfulness and sophistication, capturing the brand’s core values: gourmet quality, homemade care, and the celebration of the bond between dogs and their owners. Our goal was to create a design that was instantly recognizable, incorporating bright and vibrant colours with a playful dog icon and a fun logo featuring flicks reminiscent of dog tails. The use of fonts like FTF Brotein for headings and Hittedal Script for a handwritten touch helped to convey the brand’s personal, handcrafted approach.

The packaging design for The Woofing Oven reflects the brand’s mission to provide gourmet, all-natural dog treats in a way that’s both fun and functional, while ensuring retail success. One of the standout features of the packaging is the window at the front of the packs, which showcases the product itself – “Woofles,” a unique waffle treat for dogs. This window is framed by a graphic of a dog bowl, with an illustration of two paws holding the bowl on either side. The product’s appearance is a key selling point, and this window allows the Woofles to be seen directly, reinforcing the quality and novelty of the treat.

To further enhance flavour recognition, each flavour pack features a distinct colour, making it easy for consumers to differentiate between products on the shelf. The flavour description sits within the dog bowl graphic on the front, adding clarity to the playful design. An icon with a paw print containing a heart is prominently displayed alongside the text “Made with love, using natural ingredients,” reinforcing the brand’s commitment to homemade, high-quality products crafted with care.

The back of the pack offers additional features aimed at connecting with consumers. It includes a personal brand story, helping to establish the business as a small, local bakery with a strong passion for dogs. Feeding instructions are displayed with icons showing portion sizes for different dog breeds, helping consumers make informed decisions based on their dog’s size. Another unique element is the barcode, shaped like a dog, adding creativity that aligns with the fun, dog-centric theme.

The packaging highlights the product’s sustainability, featuring an icon communicating that the pack is widely recyclable, as it’s made from polyethylene (PE). Small visual touches throughout the design, such as icons of a plant with the phrase “Freshly baked, no preservatives” and an illustration of an owner with their dog, further that these treats are healthy, natural, and designed specifically for dogs.

The Woofing Oven’s packaging design strikes the perfect balance between playful visual elements and key functional features, making it memorable, engaging, and informative for dog lovers seeking premium treats.

Follow The Woofing Oven on Social Media:

Facebook: The Woofing Oven

Packaging printed by Epac Flexibles:

Instagram: @epacflexiblepackaging

Website: epacflexibles.com

September 11, 2024 /

The Galway Kitchen: Hot Pot Ready Meals Packaging Design

The Galway Kitchen’s food range includes global flavours, inspired by much-loved tastes from around the world, made in their kitchen at the heart of Galway.

The Galway Kitchen brand already existed for their popular houmous dips range when they contacted Clare Lynch Creative. They asked if we could create the packaging design for these hot pot ready meals, to work well alongside their existing houmous range, and also the snack pack range and tasty dips range designed by Clare Lynch Creative, which incorporate bright mediterranean patterns alongside clean, minimal typography and imagery, whilst bringing a fresher vibrant look to the packs to ensure a strong and bold standout impact on shelves.

Another brief request was to show the quality and wholesomeness of the meals by including mouth-watering photography taken by @jenniferocooks. Jennifer also took beautiful in-situ shots of the finished products with their packaging on completion, with the ingredients displayed around the tubs. The Galway Kitchen were delighted with the final design outcome of the range altogether and how well it fits with the rest of their brand range. See their testimonial here…

They are available in @tescoirl stores.

The tasty trio of innovative recipes are inspired by global flavours and made locally in Galway. There is Green Lentil Dahl, Smoked Bacon Mac & Cheese and Japanese-inspired Chicken Katsu Curry. Designed with convenience, great taste and nutrition in mind, these ready meals are a quick and healthy lunch option. The high protein recipes have been developed by their expert team of in-house chefs and are available at Tesco Ireland.

The Galway Kitchen range is available at selected Tesco Ireland stores:

Find them in the fridge at your local Tesco Ireland

Follow The Galway Kitchen at:

Photography by Jennifer Oppermann:

www.jenniferoppermann.com

Packaging printed by Priory Press Packaging.

The Galway Kitchen are produced by quality Irish fine food producer Galmere Foods.

August 21, 2024 /

The Galway Kitchen Snack Packs: Packaging Design

New project

The Galway Kitchen Snack Packs: Packaging Design

The new Classic Houmous Snack Pack by @thegalwaykitchen has recently launched! Each pack includes a tub of The Galway Kitchen’s signature Classic Houmous, created with a creamy blend of chickpeas and tahini with a hint of lemon, Organic and Reduced Fat along with a serving of mini, Italian breadsticks, specially developed for scooping and giving that perfect, light crunch. These flavour-packed treats are great for a healthy lunch snack!

The Galway Kitchen brand already existed for their popular houmous dips range when they contacted Clare Lynch Creative. They asked if we could create the packaging design for these snack packs to work well alongside their existing range, incorporating bright mediterranean patterns alongside clean, minimal typography and imagery, whilst bringing a fresher vibrant look to the packs to ensure a strong and bold standout impact on shelves. They were very happy with the result. See their testimonial here…

The Galway Kitchen’s food range includes global flavours, inspired by much-loved tastes from around the world, made in their kitchen at the heart of Galway.

The Galway Kitchen range is available at selected Tesco Ireland stores:

Follow The Galway Kitchen at:

Photography by Jennifer Oppermann:

Blarney Bees Honey: Brand Packaging Design

Fusing the raw essence of Irish honey with tantalizing flavours. Blarney Bees Honey are a small, family-run business with two generations of beekeepers. They create traditional and modern Irish honey infusions, using 100% Pure Raw Irish Honey, crafted by their Irish honeybees in Blarney, Cork, in the South of Ireland.

The small-batch production method guarantees a distinctive flavour for each lot while preserving the aroma, texture, and taste of raw Irish blossom honey. The distinctive flavour is a result of golden nectar thoughtfully collected from a variety of trees and flowers that the honeybees forage on. Their honey is raw, unpasteurized, and coarse cold-filtered to maintain the integrity of the enzymes and nutrients.

The result is a perfect balance of sweet and fiery with their Raw Irish Honey infused with habanero chilies and cayenne pepper. Crafted from the nectar of Ireland’s wildflowers, this honey boasts a captivating contrast of raw sweetness and the bold, healthful heat of cayenne pepper, offering a unique and versatile addition to your culinary creations.

The Beech Wood Smoked Raw Irish Honey is a masterpiece of craftsmanship that blends the essence of Ireland’s wildflowers with a subtle smokiness using a cold smoke process. The deep amber honey, rich in antioxidants and natural antibacterial properties, offers a delightful balance of floral sweetness and earthy undertones. It enhances a wide range of dishes and beverages while also delivering a taste of the Irish countryside. Sourced sustainably, this honey is a harmonious union of nature’s best, encapsulated in every jar. Experience a uniquely Irish culinary journey with the Beech Wood Smoked Raw Irish Honey.

Sustainability

Their philosophy is to produce Irish Honeybee Products in the most sustainable way possible, by sourcing organic ingredients for their products that are free from chemicals/perfumes and partner with vendors who are making like-minded sustainability choices, reducing waste, and reusing materials as much as possible. All ingredients are locally sourced, and packaging is made from recycled materials. They also support local non-profit organizations with educational talks on biodiversity and observation hive visits to sites.

Queen Bee Character Brand Identity Concept

Within the honey bee colony, the Queen Bee is an important figure. Therefore, the concept developed features the queen bee as a character with a crown to represent how this honey is the ‘queen of the crop / the queen bee of honey’ as the quality is of the highest standards. Her wings are made up of two hearts, giving her a friendly appearance and representing how the honey is made with love. This creates a strong, distinguished brand symbol, easily associated with honey and their brand. As Blarney Bees are based in Blarney in County Cork, they wanted to communicate its heritage and how it’s an Irish brand – therefore we chose a Celtic style font, but with a modern and fresh take, to avoid looking like a stereotypical / twee old-fashioned Irish brand. We hand-tailored this font, to personalise it for Blarney Bees.

Packaging Design Considerations

For the packaging design, the client wanted to show as much as the product within. Therefore, we featured the logo and flavour descriptions prominently for easy legibility, and then reversed the design as white printed on to the honey background for the sides of the jar to show the honey within. We created an illustrative background featuring a natural environment, a bee hive apiary and a bee trailing a trail which wraps all the way around the jar. This bee trail weaves a small heart within it, indicating how the honey is made with love. This also brings a fun and playful feel to the packaging. Each flavour is differentiated by a different colour, to ensure each flavour is easily recognisable. The font chosen for the flavour description is bold for easy legibility and has a rustic grained texture within it to denote how the honey range is raw and natural.

Blarney Bees have been shortlisted as Finalists for the Irish Quality Food and Drinks Awards 2024 @irishqfa with both of their Raw Irish Honey products and their Beechwood Smoked Raw Irish Honey has won a gold star at the prestigious Great Taste Awards @guildoffinefood.

Blarney Bees Honey is currently available in the below SuperValu stores in Cork and to order online at:

@quishs_ballincollig
@supervalu_tower_
@ryanssupervalutogher
@ryanssupervalugrange
@Scallys Supervalu Blackrock

Follow Blarney Bees Honey on Social Media:

Facebook: @Blarney-Honey-Bee-Products

Photography by: @joleencronin
www.joleencronin.com

May 20, 2024 /

Tara Gartlan Chocolate: Easter Eggs Packaging Design

The Packaging Design of these beautiful Easter Eggs are a lovely addition to the Tara Gartlan Chocolate range designed by Clare Lynch Creative.

These Easter Eggs are handmade in Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan, Ireland by Michelin star pastry chef, Tara Gartlan. They embody her dedication to creating unique and special delights, to be savoured and enjoyed.

Each egg is meticulously hand painted and filled with hidden truffles, showcasing Tara’s commitment to quality & artistry. Using only the finest Valrhona chocolate, Tara invites you to indulge in a moment of pure decadence.

You can choose from the Hazelnut Rocher Egg with delicious Hazelnut Rochers tucked away inside a milk chocolate & hazelnut praline egg or the Passionfruit caramel Egg. If you really can’t decide, just have both! Everything is gluten free, as signature to all of the Tara Gartlan Chocolate range. The beauty is you wouldn’t know as the taste is amazing.

They can be ordered several months in advance of Easter each year via the website www.taragartlan.com

Follow Tara Gartlan Chocolate on Social Media:

Instagram: @taragartlanchocolate

Order Tara Gartlan Chocolates here: www.taragartlan.com

April 25, 2024 /

JJ Campbell Brand Identity & Marketing Collateral

JJC Contracting Ltd. – Building & Commercial Contractors
Brand Identity, Report Covers, Icons & Stationery Suite Design

JJC specialises in all building works, with high end quality and high spec being their main goal. All building expertise is covered with their workforce are trade qualified in their respected profession with Fetac national craft recognition. All of their management team and staff have relevant diplomas & degrees in construction management, project management, quantity surveying and building surveying.

We drew out the main letters in their name, to create a strong and recognisable brandmark. The letters are divided in to shapes in their brand colours, replicating how building are constructed of many parts to make a whole. The tagline we developed ‘Engineering the Future’ is bold and confident, building trust in their skills with their target market.

Client: JJ Campbell & Associates

May 4, 2023 /

Hello Hinterland Book Illustration

Hello Hinterland: Book Illustration

Hello Hinterland is a collection of illustrated stories and poetry, rhymes, observations and folk tales, celebrating the connections between culture and heritage in the wide and embracing landscape of Fingal County, on the East Coast of Ireland. This was my first book illustration project and I feel very proud and excited with the result.

The project came to life when poet and author of Hello Hinterland, Martin Holohan, approached me as he was seeking an illustrator for his new poetry book. I have done illustration as part of my graphic design, branding and packaging design projects and smaller side projects, but this was my first time to fully illustrate a picture book from start to finish, along with creating and putting the book together using my graphic design skills.

The process was really enjoyable. Martin gave me free creative range in terms of how each illustration could be. He wanted it to be a collaborative process, where I take inspiration from the words in each poem using my creative thinking, rather than him directing me on how each poem should look. There was a lovely freedom to this process. We began by working on the first five poems, where I presented him with the illustrations for these select few. His response was as it continued to be throughout, what we might call ‘the dream client!’ where he was blown away and completely enthusiastic and excited about each poetry illustration he was presented with.

When creating each poem, I loved deciphering the meanings of each one, many with clever words related to Irish culture and history, current times, Irish mythology and the local Irish Fingal landscape. The illustrations are full of life and character, reflecting the words in the poetry. Martin wanted the book to appeal to younger children, along with older audiences – therefore, I brought a lot of colour and brightness in to the illustrations – aiming to draw the younger audience in easily with an immediate impact, where as the words will naturally interest and entertain an older audience.

I began by drawing some loose sketch ideas for each one, and then developed them in Adobe Illustrator. I created the book structure in Adobe Indesign. I kept the text of the poetry in the same position on the double-paged spreads for each poem, and ensured that the illustrations I created fitted well with the text so that they could be both enjoyed in an easy-to-read style, with a natural flow to how the text and image are viewed together. The picture book is 100 pages, with almost 40 poetry illustrations, each one spread spaciously across two pages (a spread). Each chapter is clearly divided with a colourised spreads for each.

The aims for Hello Hinterland is for it to be a coffee table book in people’s homes, where they can often pick it up and have a read while enjoying a relaxing break from their day to get lost in the stories and themes of the poetry. Another goal for the book is for it to be enjoyed by schools and libraries throughout Ireland. It was printed as a hard-back book with heavy paper stock for this reason – it needed to be durable to withstand a lot of handling by children and the thick paper stock was also a way to present the colourful illustrations to the fullest. Martin would also like it to be seen and used as a ‘Walking Heritage Trail’ through the people and places living along the beautiful landscape of Fingal County, by the sea.

Chapter 1: Hello Hinterland

The Perfect Lawns of Lusk

Senescence

I like how this poem talks about embracing growing old – the illustration cleverly narrates the words from the poem.

Hello Hinterland

This illustration that depicts a female character, with long flowing hair that doubles-up as sea waves, is inspired by the lines in the poem that mention Irish legend Cuchulainn’s wife Emer, who is said to have hailed from Lusk. It incorporates the references to the sea and rolling hills of Lusk into her portrait.

This poem features one of the strongest lines in the poetry book ‘You gave me a lovely… lonely rural life’. This refers to how author and poet, Martin Holohan, thought when he was moving from Dublin city to Lusk (in the hinterland rural outskirts area of Dublin) that he might find it too quiet and remote, but instead, he thrived in that loneliness… whether it be with long luxurious cycling trips out on his bike, the unfolding of his passion for writing and creativity and having the time and headspace free to indulge in it and let all his ideas flow out on to the page, all of this accompanied with an occasional trip for a quiet refreshment in the quaint ‘Man O’ War’ establishment. He found that he fell in love with this quieter ‘lonely’ life. The word lonely can have negative associations, but for Martin – he found moving to the hinterlands actually turned out to be an opportunity to embrace and fall in love with this loneliness and from it, creativity flowed from his heart unstoppably to create the book Hello Hinterland and many other writing projects currently in the pipeline.

Ghosts of Malahide

Holohan’s Fable

One of my favourite poems is ‘Holohan’s Fable’. It’s about a couple so content in their daily routine, that when they win the lotto, they decide not to claim it – as they couldn’t be any happier! It’s a fable with a message about appreciating what you have in life.

Chapter 3: A Rural Romantic

Noctambulant

This beautifully illustrated book includes positive underlying themes of resilience, appreciating the little things in life, social inclusion and enjoying the local landscape, weaving through the book.

February is a Fraud

If The Moon Should Fall

This is another of my favourite poems from the book. I took the meaning to be to enjoy an appreciate the little things that we have in life. Sometimes we can over-complicate things in life, looking for potential things that could go wrong or imperfections. When, if we focus on all the good right in front of us, we might be surprised how content we can be with everything that we already have. I saw this as a romantic poem, encouraging the reader to let down their walls to let someone new, that they know they like, in to their world and to go with the flow and enjoy it. I reflected this and all the words of the poem in the illustration, with a little wink towards Salavatore Dali’s ‘end-of-the-world-like’ surrealist paintings.

Missing at the Man O’ War

Train Track Troubadour

Old Man of Balscadden

Bulling for Butlins on the 1st Day of Summer

The Refugee Song

Changing Time

Lost Poem from the Bog of Commons

Quote: “You Gave Me A Lovely… Lonely, Rural Life”

Martin Holohan is a storyteller living in Lusk, County Dublin. Martin loves to spend his time writing, cycling, singing, and not least travelling, especially by train across Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. Hello Hinterland is his Debut Collection of illustrated stories.

In this collection, the author has adopted the old role of Seanchai, the Bard, and the Poet of Irish Tales… and in that regard is of sorts a ‘Lore Keeper’. Lore Keepers are embedded in Irish Folklore and are particularly attracted to the Land themselves, especially where they currently live. It is their defining attribute to seek out and explore the spots and places that still have a strong spirit of the Myths and Legends of old.

The Lore Keeper aims to mix and match the past and present so as to bring New Tales and Observations from our beautiful island, Ėire.

The book, published by Choice Publishing Ltd, focuses on the journeys Martin makes across a wide and sometimes rural region and aptly incorporates people and places living close to the East Coast of Ireland there in Fingal County. Moreover, his real contribution is highlighting the ‘aspects of the everyday’ in places around that particular part of the country, which are remarkably only a short distance by train or car out of Dublin City.

Most notable are the titles…’The Perfect Lawns of Lusk‘, ’Twin Loves in the Little Town of Rush’ and ‘Hello Hinterland‘.

“Hello Hinterland is more than just a modern Illustrated Poetry Book…it acts too like a folklore companion guide towards a walking Heritage Trail…through the people and places… living along the beautiful landscape of Fingal County by the sea”.

Martin Holohan, Poet & Author of Hello Hinterland

You can hear Martin talking more about the book in this Near FM interview here…

Hello Hinterland Book Launch at Hodges Figgis Dublin

We held the book launch at the famous Dublin bookstore, Hodges Figgis, one of Dublin’s oldest bookstores, situated near Trinity college on Dawson Street. I designed the promotional collateral for the event, such as social media graphics, flyers, pull-up banners and large-scale posters for the front window display. This event was a lovely evening accompanied by refreshments, wine and cheese, where myself and Martin spoke to the guests about the creation of the book and the collaboration process and read some of our favourite poems from the book.

Book Signing at Hodges Figgis

Featured in the ‘Top 10’ Bookseller List at Hodges Figgis

Shortlisted for the IDI Awards 2022

The IDI Awards select and showcase the best of Irish design. The awards provide designers with a platform to showcase their talents, benchmark against their peers and provide inspiration for all.It was so exciting to be shortlisted for the Illustration of the book Hello Hinterland in the 2022 IDI Awards. It was an honour and great achievement to be shortlisted and recognised in the creative field among the many talented designers in Ireland.

The IDI Irish Design Awards 2022 took place on November 17th, 2022 with a ceremony in the Marker Hotel in Dublin’s Grand Canal Docklands area in Dublin 2. It was a very special 50 year anniversary celebration named ‘JOY’, to mark the founding of IDI in 1972.

Thanks to @idi_ireland for organising – it was an amazing night in such a lovely venue and a great way to meet up with fellow designers.

See more at the www.HelloHinterland.ie website.

Available to purchase at Choice Publishing and:

In-store

– Alan Hanna’s Bookshop, 270 Rathmines Rd Lower, Rathmines, Dublin 6 – See location on map…

– Tales for Tadpoles, 3 Albert Walk, Bray, Co. Wicklow, A98 TC03 – See location on map…

– Antonia’s Bookstore, The Gate House, Navan Gate, Trim, Co. Meath – See location on map…

– Choice Publishing, Drogheda, Co. Louth – See location on map…

– Hodges Figgis on Dawson Street, Dublin 2 – See location on map…

Online:

Tales for Tadpoles:

www.talesfortadpoles.ie

Alan Hanna’s Bookstore:

www.alanhannas.com

Choice Publishing:

www.choicepublishing.ie

Waterstones / Hodges Figgis:

www.waterstones.com

Antonia’s Bookstore:

www.antoniasbookstore.com

Blackwells Book Stores:

https://blackwells.co.uk/

Browns Books:

https://www.brownsbfs.co.uk/

Library Stockists:

Maynooth Library, County Kildare

https://maynoothuniversity.com

Further Details about Hello Hinterland:

Published by: Choice Publishing in Hardback

Written by: Martin Holohan

Illustrated by: Clare Lynch

Edited by: Isabel Aust

ISBN: 978-1-913275-26-6

Priced: €25.00

Distributor: www.alanhannas.com

Website: www.holohanbooks.ie

Instagram: www.instagram.com/holohanbooks

August 22, 2022 /

Supporting Families – Brand Identity & Promotional Collateral

Supporting Families: Brand Identity & Promotional Collateral

Supporting Families – Early Intervention in Family Law

In partnership with an Irish Law Association and Donlon Brands, we designed a complete brand identity and report for the ‘Supporting Families’ initiative, which champions early intervention and child-centred practices in family law disputes. This project seeks to provide families with therapeutic support, while advocating for system-wide adoption of child-friendly practices within the legal process.

The Supporting Families initiative brand identity and logo design is thoughtfully crafted to embody empathy, balance, and a commitment to child welfare. Key elements of the logo reflect these themes:

Dual Pathways: The graphic depicts a single-family unit branching into two new directions, symbolising parents moving in opposite directions while still connected through the shared focus on their children’s well-being.
Legal Balance: Subtle scales embedded within the design represent the initiative’s legal foundations, emphasising fairness, peace, and equity as guiding principles in family law.
Unified Hands: The logo illustrates two parents shaking hands, with an adjudicator figure between them, symbolising the initiative’s role in fostering cooperation and positive outcomes. A gentle smile within the design reinforces the project’s focus on the well-being of both children and parents.
Child-Centred Colours: Bright, positive colours were chosen to signify the child-focused nature of the initiative, resonating with themes of hope and new beginnings.

This brand identity establishes a consistent, optimistic tone that can be applied across all communications, from printed materials to digital assets, ensuring the initiative appears credible, professional, and compassionate to both families and legal stakeholders.

We developed a 12-page A5 Promotional Brochure that introduces stakeholders to the Supporting Families initiative, detailing the pilot project’s objectives, methodology, and anticipated outcomes. The brochure is designed in alignment with the brand identity, ensuring a cohesive and approachable presentation that appeals to judges, lawyers, policy advisors, and family advocates.

We also provided website graphics as digital concepts for an introductory website, reinforcing the brand’s visual language and supporting consistency across platforms. These graphics serve as an online resource to engage a wider audience and provide foundational information about the project’s goals and methodology.

By integrating these design elements, the Supporting Families initiative is positioned as a credible, empathetic, and solution-oriented model within family law, aiming for systemic improvements and positive, long-term outcomes for families in Ireland.

February 12, 2021 /

Quilters Fresh Fruit – Brand Packaging Design

Quilters is a fresh-cut fruit brand based in Kerry and Cork, Ireland, focused on delivering premium, ready-to-eat fruit products for customers who value quality and convenience. Its product range – including The Big Bowl, The Small Pot, and a Melon and Pineapple Mix – is carefully hand-cut and packaged without artificial preservatives, ensuring each offering is as fresh and flavorful as possible. With a strong emphasis on local sourcing, Quilters provides a wholesome snack option for families and individuals on the go.

Quilters is committed to delivering the highest quality fruit, all hand-cut, washed, and packed with care to provide an unmatched taste experience. Looking toward the future, the company aims to expand across Ireland and become synonymous with freshness and quality in every grab-and-go section.

As a brand, Quilters stands apart through its dedication to freshness, local sourcing, and artisanal care, while offering various portion sizes to meet different needs. This commitment to quality and its local roots create an authentic and reliable choice for Ireland’s fresh-cut fruit market. Keywords that best capture Quilters’ values are high-quality fresh cut fruit, hand-packaged, local Irish produce, and premium convenience.

This logo communicates the farm freshness and naturalness by using leaves in the logo lockup and also by using a textured main font to give a rustic feel to it. The rectangle-shaped device has a hand-drawn, earthy feel to it – communicating the hand-packed aspect of Quilters.

• The tagline ‘Fruit on the Go’ supports how this is food to be eaten on the move. The contents are ‘all fresh’ and to be eaten ‘on the go’, so it communicates it’s usefulness in a direct and clear way.

• On the packaging, the ribbon is used with the logo to further communicate quality. It’s colour changes per pack. Here, the font and illustrations are in white, to highlight the fruit content within the packs.

• Each pack has been named according to it’s size and benefits, such as the ‘The Big Bite’, ‘The Immune Boost Box’ and ‘The Lil Snack’. This makes it easy for consumers to differentiate by size and also connect to the fun and playful aspect of the brand. As the Quilters brand originates from a history of a family-run food business, it is a subtle link with the family element of different ages/sizes within a family.

The packaging is designed as mainly white text over a transparent background, to show as much of the fruit as possible, an aim of the client to appeal to consumers taste buds.

November 1, 2020 /

Muckross Creamery Brand Packaging

Muckross Creamery is an Irish ice cream brand range, hand-crafted by the Fleming family. Their strap-line is ‘From Cow to Cone’ – communicating the freshness of their delicious ice cream.

Catherine and John Fleming live with their lovely family of six children, and of course… all their friendly farm cows, on their charming farm in Muckross, Killarney. John Fleming is a fifth-generation dairy farmer. His family have been farming in Muckross, Killarney since the 1840’s. Their mouth-watering ice cream is made using their own fresh milk, fresh cream and free-range eggs. Being a farm-based enterprise in Killarney, they source all the fresh ingredients and supplies for each scrumptious flavour of their artisan range locally, to support the local economy. Their short supply chain and values of commitment to quality and sustainable production contribute to the great taste of their ice-cream.

When they reached out to Clare Lynch Creative on re-branding, key aspects they wanted to convey were the natural and fresh qualities of their ice cream. Therefore, featuring one of their resident, friendly farm cows in their brand and packaging design was a natural progression. It was important to implement this in a well-crafted manner, to denote that they are a quality brand range of ice cream.

Further to that, the colours from the fresh ingredients used in the ice cream were used as an inspiration source to form the colour palette for the brand, along with the traditionally-associated dairy colour of blue – but freshened up in a slightly brighter and modern tone, linking with the summery feeling associated with ice cream.

Muckross Creamery Ice Cream Brand Identity & Packaging Design

The brand typography has a traditional feel to it – with a bold, rustic font selected and hand-tailored for the bespoke brandmark along with hand-written descriptors; to support the values the client wanted to convey of how the ice cream is hand-made on their farm with fresh, local ingredients. The grain texture and the hand-drawn fruit silhouettes on the packaging further support and highlight this. As their brand story is an important aspect to the brand, it is featured on the packs with a photo of the family (which has since gained a new little member!). Muckross Creamery is a Listowel Food Fair winner for it’s flavoursome and tasty ice cream, and this key USP is highlighted on the packaging. The cute tubs are earthy and recyclable, which adds to their popularity, both as it communicates the rustic, traditional qualities to consumers, and also to how they are a conscientious and sustainable company.

Follow Muckross Creamery Ice Cream online:

Website: muckrosscreamery.ie

Instagram: @muckrosscreamery

Twitter / X.com: @MuckrossC

June 30, 2020 /

Katie’s Kombucha Brand Packaging

Katie’s Kombucha Packaging Design

Katie’s Kombucha is a healthy probiotic drink, which is good for the gut and immune system. It is a delicious, refreshing vegan soft drink range, made with love by Ballymaloe-trained chef, Katie McCann.

When it comes to health, the gut is a key area to begin with, known as the body’s ‘second brain’ – it is trusted to support the body to fuel our happiness, health and wellness. The drink is alive and contains a community of healthy bacteria living inside which is beneficial to our bodies. When you feel alive, you can create what you love and love what you create.

Katie’s Kombucha is naturally fermented in small batches and is a naturally functional food. There are two flavours launched to date – ‘Raspberry’ (flavoured with 100% Wicklow raspberries) and ‘Apple & Dandelion’ (flavoured with 100% organic apples). It is unpasteurised, sustainably produced, vegan, gluten free and has recyclable packaging. Katie’s Kombucha refreshes, rebalances, replenishes the body.

Some key factors Katie wanted to communicate with the brand was her passion for creating kombucha, how it is a healthy product that’s good for you and that it’s wholesome and natural.

As Katie and the passion she has for what she does is the essence of the brand, the design outcome created for the brand packaging design uses the silhouette of a woman, representing Katie. The silhouette of the woman (Katie) has the fruits which the kombucha consists of intertwined into the shape of her hair, in a natural and organic style.

To make the word ‘kombucha’ easy to read for those unfamiliar with it, the three syllables are in a stacked block reading ‘KOM-BU-CHA’ to make up the brandmark. The hand-tailored font in the logo is earthy and rustic, communicating the natural ethos and ingredients of the kombucha. A texture with a subtle grain has been integrated with the typography and silhouette to further accentuate the wholesome qualities of the brand.

Each favour is differentiated by colour (guided by the fruits each contains), along with it’s own fruit icon. There was a third flavour ‘ginger’ created, to be launched at a later date. A hand-written font is used for the flavour descriptions, further emphasising the hand-made and personal process to how Katie’s Kombucha is created. An additional detail created is the unique barcode, showcasing the silhouette of leaves and berries. A hand-drawn heart icon highlights the feature that the kombucha is 100% Vegan.

Another key factor to consider when designing the kombucha was Katie’s highly conscientious nature in relation to being sustainable and the environment. Therefore, she chose a uniquely-shaped bottle which is easy to recycle and we ensured to work with the printer to use the earthy, recycled paper stock ‘Shiro’ rather than a sticker to make them easily re-usable and recyclable. They are then sealed with a tamper-proof seal.

Katie loved how the results communicate her brand essence and values, with strong visual impact on shelves in stores and has received much positive feedback on the new packaging from her customers and on social media. It’s sales have grown to a wide range of stores such as many of the SuperValu’s throughout Dublin, online deliveries stockist Neighbourfood, 3FE cafes and a number of other unique stores and cafes around Dublin and Wicklow.

Please enjoy the below video with sound and follow Katie’s Kombucha on Instagram @katiekombucha

See the positive feedback I received from Katie here.

Design: Clare Lynch Creative

Photography: Brendan Ryan Photography

Photo Styling: Clare Lynch, Betsy Gach.

Video: Shane Caffrey

June 9, 2020 /

Inishbofin Guide Book

Inishbofin Guide

This is a guide to Inishbofin, a small island off the coast of Ireland. Inishbofin has a population of 180 people and relies heavily on tourism. This project explored a way of attracting more tourists to the island. The concept behind it is to create a series of landmarks around the island, which honour Inishbofin’s history and culture. As Inishbofin is an eco-friendly island, they seek to achieve sustainable tourism that does not negatively impact upon the island’s natural environment, while at the same time benefits and supports the local community. Therefore, the concept was each sculpture would be created with eco-friendly, sustainable materials such as wood, bog oak, stone and earthy materials which would be in harmony with the local landscape and for each one to be clever and creatively designed. Some of the landmarks/highlights I thought of were the famous Grace O’Malley, the Cleggan Disaster, the island’s Flora & Fauna wildlife, the Patron Saint of Bofin, Cromwell’s Barracks, the White Cow (the island’s name) and Cockles & Mussels. I explored different ways in which these sculptures would be created. The idea being that visitors can interact with the sculptures and will want to find each one, to take photographs with them and tick them off their list of cultural things to see on the island. Beside each sculpture would be a small plaque which also naturally blends in with the local environment, which tells the story behind the sculpture.

Taking visual cues from the Camino de Santiago, where there is the a subtle shell with an arrow showing the direction to walk, I designed an icon which would work in the same way for Inishbofin’s sculptures. It is a simple boat shape, where the sail is an arrow – the direction of the arrow indicates which way to walk to each attraction. These would be set subtly in stone around the island, to ensure not to impact the island’s beautiful and natural landscape.

The main piece was an A5, side-stitched booklet with a fold-out A3 map showing the location of each sculpture around the island in the centre-fold. It was riso-printed using a rigorous 7-colour process, with some lovely ‘happy accidents’ of colour offsets in the finished booklet. The cover was then debossed with the shape of the map. Each page uses modern typography and layouts. On researching the island, many people said how Inishbofin was a place that people come to get lost and find themselves in, enjoying the slower pace of life and the fresh sea air and nature. The expression ‘There’s plenty of time on the island’ is a commonly used expression. This inspired the name for this booklet, with the play of words ‘A Guide to Getting Lost’. I created an icon for each sculpture, which visitors can easily find on the map, and used some expressions throughout which represent the essence of life on Bofin.

At this stage of the project, I created a 3D wooden stylised map of the island, with laser etchings of the icons, and also created 3D-printed icons to represent each sculpture (although not aimed to be the finished sculpture design). For the numbers on the map, I tailored an old Irish Celtic font to create individual, unique numbers which still embody the Celtic feel, but with a modern twist. I then laser printed these personally-designed numbers on to wood, to have as physical items to display as part of the overall proposed exhibition display. The use of wood for the display stand added to the sustainability, eco-friendly culture with which Inishbofin is proud of.

July 27, 2018 /

Design