Grateful Plate

Beth and Mike hired P’unk Ave to help find their new voice as they expanded their company's services, absorbed a second business, and more than doubled in size.

As they took on someone else’s client base and changed their business model, they knew their name and brand weren’t serving the new direction and that it was the right time to make a bigger change.

What’s in a name?

We began as we always do, by getting to know our clients through a hands-on, user-centered research process. We started to familiarize ourselves with Beth and Mike and where they were coming from. It was important to pay homage to their previous work and to blend the old with the new to help ease the transition. To create an authentic and resonant identity for a business or organization, it’s essential to understand the history and formative moments that have transpired.

Through an intimate identity workshop in which the P’unk Ave team acted as participants, we moved through a series of exercises, including free associating words and phrases and sharing “This I Believe” essays about foundational moments in Beth and Mike’s lives. Between those essays and the words generated we found that being grateful was an essential part of their business. Beth’s “This I Believe” focused on the Grateful Dead and it’s role in her upbringing and we discovered that before every meal Beth and Mike share their “gratefuls” with each other.

When we reached the point of sharing possible names, two people had independently written down “Grateful Plate.”

Harnessing Energy

Struck by the conversations and allusions mentioned during the workshop, our designer jumped right into sketching potential logos for the newly designated “Grateful Plate.” Playing off the reference to the Grateful Dead, he captured the concept of energy— an important thread in Beth and Mike’s work— in a lightning bolt shaped carrot. Over time, as the brand came together, we removed the bolt and made the logo a lighter, brushed carrot that even better captured the spirit and energy of Grateful Plate.

“The work is always a by-product of the place you were just in,” our designer said about the logo process. “Looking at one direction at a time for a branding project can be scary, but it means that we iterate and grow the concept together. We create the most meaningful brands when we make decisions based on shared experience and understanding.”

Creating an Experience

Throughout the project, Beth and Mike were excited about exploring possibilities and unexpected outcomes, which made the project fun while encouraging everyone to think creatively. The new brand came to life in every form imaginable, from designing the table experience for events, to recommending a video to be used in the subsequent Grateful Plate website we designed. We even screen printed aprons in the P’unk Ave silkscreen studio and designed insulated food bags and scrapers to accompany the Grateful Plate meals.

From beginning to end, our shared priority was keeping the experience of Grateful Plate at the forefront of our work together, seeking out the pieces we could create that would embody the special touches that you experience when Grateful Plate is in your kitchen.