Overview
I had the pleasure to work alongside designer Matt Goold, to lead the research and strategy for the renaming and brand refresh of Grateful Plate—formerly known as A Mindful Me. Formerly A Mindful Me, Beth Kaufman Strauss and her husband & business partner Mike Strauss, were seeking a brand refresh for their business to:
Better represent the range of services offered: meal delivery, health coaching and personal chef services
Feel more approachable and accessible to more people
Better reflect the quality of food and experience she brings to the table—literally.
Research
Through a workshop that explored audience, voice, tone, visuals, values, and more – we also created exercises to mine the experiences and stories that provide insight into the history of A Mindful Me, as well as Beth and Mike as individuals.
As a homework assignment, we asked each of them to write a This I Believe essay that answered to the following prompts: “Are there any values, beliefs or principles you use as guiding force in your work?” and “Tell us a story about a time where one of these was demonstrated through your work.”
From these essays, among many other things, we learned that Beth’s parents were Dead Heads – Grateful Dead being a band that connected both Beth and Mike’s families – and that they have a tradition of sharing “Gratefuls” at every meal (things they are grateful for), even at dinner parties with friends. It is no wonder, that during a naming brainstorm exercise later on in the workshop – which built on the conversations and questions answered in other exercises – we had two people arrive at the same name, effortlessly—Grateful Plate.
From here, our team created a playful mark that honored the roots of the company (ba-dum-cha!) with a carrot and which represents Beth’s “technicolor” aura in life and in her work, a word one of Beth’s clients used to describe her and her food.
Branding
Here is a short video featuring some of the branding work: