Kiko
About Kiko
As you slump into a chair at a café in San Sebastián to rest your tired, aching legs, you empty the contents of your pockets onto the table and desperately scrounge around for just enough Euro to buy a slice of Basque cheesecake. Then it arrives and absolutely blows your tiny mind. That very specific, very delicious feeling was the inspiration behind our brand design for Kiko. You know the one?
We were engaged by lifelong friends John and Julian to create a visual identity for their new business that felt fun but not frivolous, sophisticated but not boring, convivial and utterly indulgent. We were given a picture of the cobbled street in Devon where the cheesecake would be sold, the story of Kiko — a Spanish tale about a happy gypsy who runs from village to village stuffing himself with local treats — and, most importantly, a single slice of Basque cheesecake made by John. It was nothing short of a revelation.
The cheesecake itself became the starting point for the colour palette: the creamiest cream, the perfectly burnt outer crust and the fiery heat that makes it all happen. Kiko was illustrated to feel gluttonous, joyful and unmistakably Spanish. The tissue was given that particular kind of European luxe, while the A-frame was painted fire-engine red to pop against the monotone cobbled street it would call home.
And there you have it: a very cute, very delicious brand identity for a shop we can’t actually visit. Lucky for us, John serves the cheesecake through his other business here in Port Fairy: drift house. So we’re not completely out of luck.
Secrets
For some whack reason John and Julian didn’t use the poem we made for their shop door. So we thought we would share it here.
Kiko was fat and happy,
eating his Basque cheesecake.
Once day he ate to much,
and he died for christ sake.
Could cheesecake be so good,
that you would pull the pin?
Only one way to find out,
Would you like to come in?
Project scope
Brand design
Signage
Stationery
Packaging
Website design
Illustration
Animation
Kind words
Having worked with many big-name creative agencies over a long career in executive marketing, communications and strategy roles, I can state with some authority that the Studio Dreams team are simply brilliant to work with!
They were engaged to help mould the identity of a small start-up business, with deliverables including; full brand design, website development, signage, marketing collateral, packaging and social media launch.
Sinead and Alexis threw themselves into the project with an infectious energy that made the experience of working with them a lot of fun and most importantly produced superb outcomes that completely nailed the brief.
This was not a straightforward project as it was UK based, with one founder in Australia and the other in Devon. The timeline to launch was extremely tight, but the team took this in their stride, along with the challenges of geography and time zones, dealing with suppliers on the other side of the world.
Choosing Studio Dreams as your creative partner will be one of the best decisions you make!
— John Watkinson, founder and Basque Cheesecake master (trust us, we’ve tried it!)
