The Gorgeous Spice Company
The Gorgeous Spice Company offers a series of highly versatile spice blends, supported by a rich media experience that includes recipes, kitchen playlists and product recommendations. Though its blends are available from regional boutique retailers near the company’s home in Canada’s Southern Georgian Bay region, most customers get theirs through an immersive monthly subscription experience.
The problem with the spice business, as the Gorgeous’ founder saw it, is that its products are either too prescriptive—“this is for chicken”—or too arcane, requiring technical ability that promotes elitism. The Gorgeous’ blends were created to subvert those extremes, combining fresh spices into coherent ‘can’t fail’ flavour profiles all their own.
The design solution was focused very much on dimensionalizing that end benefit in an equally subversive way. Rather than take the dangerous route of pedantically explaining these attributes, the series vividly implies them with a pastiche of cues from popular culture.
Blending irreverent pop cultural references, each package brings its own attitude and style, like vinyl record covers, unlocking a completely different experience, brand world, and vibe for each blend.
Though sporting completely individualised typography and layouts, subtle design systems across the 12 packages emerge: A focus on leading with typography in the hierarchy, and repetition of core colours such as pink, red, orange and yellow start to show that each spice blend from The Gorgeous comes from the same creator.
Services: Brand identity, brand system, art & creative direction, packaging
Instead of focusing on the world of spices, filled with stories of provenance, the Goregeous' logo takes inspiration from the world of indie record labels logos of the 80s and 90s.
Each month The Gorgeous mails a new spice blend related to the month and a pop culture reference. Inspirations range from film noir to zodiac signs. Every month sports playlists and recipes to inspire.
“Studio Otherness is super talented, no doubt! And they bring a cultural literacy and a reverence for strategic thinking to every project that elevates the design-thinking and makes for a brilliant creative partnership.
The branding and packaging that Studio Otherness developed for The Gorgeous Spice Company is so distinctive and eye-catching that both customers and retailers want it on their shelves.”
— Lindan Courtemanche, founder of The Gorgeous Spice Company
Paired with each spice blend is an individual spice, perfect for side dishes and complimentary to the blend.
Spice blends play off the colours and energy of the pure spices, making for dynamic pairs and sets.
Art direction for the Gorgeous is bold and vivacious, filled with texture, life and vibrancy, buzzing with a "you do you" energy.
