Stirring Up a Bold New Visual Identity
by Janine Thomas RGD
Lead Designer for Brand Strategy, Visual Identity Design, Motion Graphics, Environmental Graphics, and Packaging Design
For over 80 years, Select Food Products has been producing high-quality cooked and cold-mixed sauces, salad dressings, condiments, and more for the co-manufacture, retail private label, foodservice, and industrial sectors across Canada and internationally. Recently under new leadership, the company had undergone significant operational changes, including updated manufacturing processes, state-of-the-art equipment, and a sharpened focus on quality and safety. To mark this new era, Select approached my agency, Significant Other, to create a fresh visual identity that would signal innovation, growth, and a bold future.
The refreshed identity needed to communicate with two distinct audiences: new potential clients, and existing clients and employees undergoing organizational changes. Our scope included a suite of deliverables, such as a logo, a new colour palette, a refreshed website, an introductory video, a PowerPoint deck, employee t-shirts, signage, wall graphics, redesigned packaging labels, and packaging for a new consumer-facing sachet product line.
We began by immersing ourselves in Select’s existing brand materials, analyzing current packaging, signage, and collateral, and visiting their office and production facilities to better understand the company’s operational environment. This deep dive was paired with an industry and competitor landscape analysis, helping us identify opportunities for differentiation.
Our research culminated in the development of several mood boards, each representing a different tonal direction. With no significant restrictions placed on the redesign, we explored a wide range of styles. Select ultimately gravitated toward the "Modern Edge" moodboard, which featured clean sans-serif typefaces, bold layered colours, patterns, flat illustrations, and an overall contemporary aesthetic.
Concept development revolved around creating a brand system that was both fresh and meaningful. At the centre of the new identity is “the whisk”, which is essential for the perfect blend of flavours and textures in sauces. Each bold colour of the whisk’s tines signifies one of Select’s key attributes, intertwining to form a single line representing their purpose: To Make the Best Sauces for the World’s Best Brands.
The fresh new colour palette was inspired by the “Mother Sauces” in French cuisine, which serve as the base for a variety of delicious sauces. The green and bright blue were chosen to bring more freshness into the palette, while the main Select blue was carried over from the previous identity to maintain consistency and brand recognition. The new contemporary sans-serif typeface was chosen as it is not only clear and accessible, but it also helped to convey the friendly, approachable nature of the Select team.
To further enrich the system, we created a set of universal symbols that represent the various stages in Select’s manufacturing process and their commitment to innovation. To compliment these symbols, a second set of icons was created to represent Select’s guiding principles as a company. They are used when speaking about their team, their company culture, and what they believe in.
In application, the new identity successfully addresses Select’s various target audiences with thoughtful, tailored design solutions. For the pail labels used in foodservice, we paid close attention to back-of-house restaurant employees, many of whom speak English as a second language. We ensured that visual clarity was paramount by designing simple, identifiable imagery and bold colour-coding, enabling quick and accurate identification of products in fast-paced kitchen environments. The sachet packages use a very simple and clean approach; bright colours, big and bold text, and an actual photo of the product help differentiate these from the competition, and shows off the quality of the contents.
The brand video is energetic, informational, and exciting. It features scenes that show off the delicious sauces that Select is known for, as well as gives the viewer a sneak peak into the efficient manufacturing processes happening on the production line. Select's brand values and goals are emphasized and digestible, ensuring quick comprehension. Bright colours, quick transitions, and fast music keep the viewer engaged and excited to see what comes next.
Throughout the project, we applied professional design principles to create a cohesive, flexible brand system that could scale across various touch points. Early client feedback was overwhelmingly positive, highlighting both excitement and pride in the new brand direction. Employees expressed enthusiasm about the updated visual identity, noting how it reflected the company's renewed energy internally. Overall, the results successfully tied back to the original project goals: clearly communicating Select’s transformation while positioning the brand for future growth and market leadership.
