Braum’s Rebrand
A midwest chain restaurant, Braum’s markets itself as “not your typical fast food.” They make appoint to have quality, local ingredients with a huge draw for their delicious ice cream in many different flavors, including seasonal rotations. Starting with the idea “if you want something done right, you do it yourself,” the founders of Braum’s produced a small butter processing plant in Kansas and grew into multiple dairy farms that now serve their restaurant and grocery store duos. Braum’s milk comes from a private dairy herd that enjoys a 100% vegetarian diet with no growth hormones or antibiotics added, ensuring incredibly high-quality milk. In fact, Braum’s is committed to only placing their restaurants and neighborhood markets within a 330-mile radius from their dairy farms to ensure freshness – it takes less than 36 hours from the time a cow is milked until the milk arrives at your neighborhood Braum’s!
One problem, though, is that Braum’s branding feels incredibly outdated, stale, and cluttered. With such an incredible mission, great products, and a family-friendly focus, Lauren Dewitte, Cassie Thomas, and I decided we would focus on rebranding the fast food chain in order to create a new feel. Now presenting our Braum’s rebrand project!
Logo Redesign
Wanting to rebrand Braum’s as more of an old-school diner with bright colors, fun characters, wearable merchandise, and an entirely different, wholesome feel, we started with the logo. Each of us thumbnailed many different logo options, took three of our favorites and designed them in illustrator, and then voted together on which ones were our favorites.
I was particularly inspired by vintage neon signs for my logo design, making a few different variations of a Braum’s logo. I decided to continue using a pink and a blue as they currently have each of those colors in their branding, but I toned down the pink to more of a baby pink and the blue is a much lighter, more subtle blue. I liked the idea of each of these logos
The logo we ended up choosing was crisp, fun, and family friendly. The hand-lettering is original, the logo is clean, and the cone design as well as the cherry is a signature ice cream sundae addition. Not only is the logo fun in color, but it can stand alone in black and white with the classic 60’s boomerang shape. Once we decided on this logo, we moved forward into designing merch, signage, menus, packaging, and more.
In addition, I created a new menu for inside the Braum’s as well as a drive-thru menu option. With a diner feel, I felt that a return to a hand-painted lettering look provided a really fun atmosphere. I also think Braum’s menu currently feels incredibly cluttered and overcomplicated with too many photos of the food and too many words overall. With this being said, I worked to simplify the design while still having almost everything that is on the menu available here in this much smaller, cute style.
I also created original characters, complete with pancakes and syrup, a little cheeseburger, ice cream in a cup and ice cream in a cone, and a classic cherry limeade. We specifically thought these characters could be really fun for marketing and could also replace the photos of food on the menu that feel less appetizing and appealing to the design eye. We also feel that these new characters open the door to many more marketing techniques, merchandise options, and more. The Braum’s team could continue to introduce new characters, and children could be more inclined to love eating at Braum’s with more incentive than just a delicious ice cream cone.
Signage
One incredibly important piece of fast food restaurants is the roadside signage. We wanted to make sure that our new design would pop from street-view for those traveling through town. We created a mock up of the new logo, complete with neon lights for evenings. We also edited the logo on the Braum’s storefront to be cohesive with our new work.
Another way we felt that we could really class up Braum’s was by editing and developing new food packaging. Using the Braum’s logo, cherry red, and our classic pink and teal, we created a cohesive and fun style for the food packaging, complete with a sticker to hold bags closed with the classic cherry limeade character. We feel that packaging down to the paper used to wrap cheeseburgers provides a more enjoyable experience for customers.
Of course, ice cream packaging is incredibly important for Braum’s as well. Currently, their ice cream packaging looks like an average grocery store ice cream container. Cassie designed a much more visually pleasing, simple, and clear design that feels cohesive to the new branding as well. We think this is a much better solution and would likely up ice cream sales. Whether consumers like to admit it or not, packaging majorly influences sales.
Staff Uniform & Product Packaging
An aspect that can make an old-school theme so much more fun is the staff uniform. Lauren, Cas, and I decided that we thought aprons and hats could be an easy way to get staff and customers alike on board. Using our class light pink and teal, complete with the checkerboard 60’s feel and our logo, these uniforms feel pleasing to the eye and cohesive with the new Braum’s style.
Merchandise
Our goal for the merchandise was to create a couple of pieces that feel young and fun. Many high school and college students have gotten really into carrying tote bags around as opposed to purses or backpacks, so I designed a tote that fits with the menu design, including a few of the Braum’s characters that we developed, but also having a larger focus on Braum’s milk, which is one of their lesser-known staples for the younger age group. I designed an old-school, monochromatic milk carton that I then screen-printed on some tote bags, and I even loved this project so much that I wear my Braum’s milk carton tote around campus. I am often asked where I got this tote, and when people find out I designed it, many have asked if there are more that they could purchase.
In addition to the tote, I designed a t-shirt that highlights the fact that Braum’s is open all day. One could eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner at Braum’s and choose different menu options each time! I worked to make this character feel vintage and lovable, while also keeping the shirt simple. I screen printed a few white tees with this design, and it also receives lots of questions and compliments as well.
