Soul Rebel Cannabis Co.
2020
Project Scope
Use design for full retail store experience - from branding, signage, uniforms, and product merchandising, to website, promos, and much more.
Context
A former colleague approached me with an exciting new business venture - a cannabis dispensary chain of stores. The first store opened in Scarborough, ON, and a second store opened in The Beaches neighbourhood in the east side of Toronto.
Final logo
Logo signature
Method
As the Toronto area has many different cannabis dispensaries in close proximity to one another, I wanted to research area store brands to ensure Soul Rebel had the best opportunity to stand apart from its competition. The store naming process was a bit of trial-and-error to ensure care was taken to not encroach on previously trademarked brands or stores.
Design process
The store brand needed to stand apart from other cannabis store brands, but also take a “back seat” to their products and services. As a result, I felt a type-driven brand was the way to go, with a responsive icon for use in smaller instances. The name Soul Rebel has beautiful connotations to it, as does cannabis use as a whole. A warm, curvy approach to the brand logo was needed. It would also ensure it stood out from the overly trendy use of fine lines, hard corners, triangles and angles as found in the local cannabis dispensary landscape.
Solution
The colour palette was narrowed down to greens, but a modern take on them to pair with a warmer black and cream. Further branding exploration took us into font choices of Montserrat for headlines, and New Spirit for body copy. Signage requirements took shape with coming soon items, and a back-lit push-through sign laser-cut out of black aluminum with raised acrylic lit by warm LED lighting for night time.
Results
The client and her team has approved all my design ideas and suggestions very quickly, and the stores were able to go-to-market very quickly as a result. Despite opening during the very challenging time of Covid-19, the two stores are still open to this day amidst many other cannabis dispensaries closing in those areas.