Designing the identity for a delicious and guilt-free chocolate with tangible health benefits

Client

Mesmer Chocolate

Role

Brand design, Brand strategy, packaging design

Collaborators

Steven Hershberger

Mesmer Chocolate, a small chocolate producer in Indianapolis, needed a new identity that tells their unique slant on premium chocolate—one that's healthy for you.

The company was started by two business and life partners who are both medical doctors. The couple was seeking to create a confectionery that satisfied their sweet tooth but didn't leave them with feelings of guilt about their unhealthy indulgence. Many experiments were conducted in their home kitchen to find the right recipe, largely using healthier forms of sweeteners. Several of the attempts at creating a delicious chocolate without the unhealthful trade-offs failed until a particular sweetener was used—allulose.

The use of allulose, a natural sweetener found in certain fruits and nuts, became their key to creating a tasty chocolate that not only isn't bad for you—it's good for you.

Allulose has a number of health benefits. Chemically, the body doesn't recognize the chemical as a sugar, and so it doesn't process allulose like a sugar. This natural sweetener has been shown to promote health insulin levels and even act as an appetite suppressant.

Partnering with Steven Hershberger, a business consultant and friend of the chocolatiers, we got to work on identifying the root of the brand proposition and unearthing the brand narrative.

It was evident that Mesmer Chocolate's messaging wasn't coming through. Being innovative in the confectionery arts, while also giving chocolate lovers something to feel hopeful about was at the core of its unique proposition. After deliberating together in a naming session we landed on Beacon Chocolate as the new moniker for this one-of-a-kind confectionery.

Beacon Chocolate prides itself on being a shining light in the chocolate industry by taking a once tasty treat that felt like a guilty-pleasure, and transforming it into an equally satiating candy that curbs the feelings of guilt. This is what we built the visual identity around.

The resulting logo, color palette, materials, patterns, badges, and packaging were created to convey a sense of luxury that also feels natural. The color palette plays on the vibrant cocoa pod fruit, and the fashion-forward logo acts as its counter-balance. The natural, textured materials give a sense of warmth, and the signature pattern is created from the "B" monogram, constructed from the conical shape of a spotlight.