Kahaw Gelato : A Delicious Story

Ice cream often comes with a memory. A cone on the way home from the beach. A favourite flavour shared across a table. A quick stop that turns an ordinary afternoon into something worth remembering.

That feeling became the starting point for Melt, an ice cream brand built around the pleasure of taking a small break. Our task was to translate it into an identity that felt warm, expressive, and immediately recognisable—from the shopfront to the last spoonful.

Finding the Personality

We began by imagining the experience of visiting Melt. How should someone feel when they walked through the door? What would make them stay a little longer? And what would they remember once they left?

The answers helped us define a clear personality: generous, curious, and slightly mischievous. Melt would take its ice cream seriously while keeping the experience relaxed. It needed to welcome someone ordering their usual vanilla just as easily as someone trying the most unexpected flavour on the menu.

This gave us a useful direction for the design. Every element needed to communicate care without becoming formal, and playfulness without overwhelming the product.

A Name That Shaped the Identity

“Melt” captured something familiar about ice cream: its softness, its fleeting nature, and the small urgency of enjoying it before it disappears.

The name also gave us a visual starting point. We explored rounded letterforms, gentle curves, and shapes that appeared to soften at the edges. The final wordmark carried a little movement within a compact, confident silhouette.

We paid particular attention to how it worked at different sizes. It needed to be clear above a shop entrance, recognisable on a takeaway cup, and legible on a small lid. Its character came from the proportions and details of the lettering, allowing it to hold its own with very little around it.

Building a World of Colour

The palette grew from the ice cream counter itself. Strawberry pink, pistachio green, buttery yellow, and deep chocolate brown brought familiar flavour associations into the identity. A warm cream tone gave the colours room to breathe.

We tested combinations across packaging and digital layouts, adjusting the balance until the palette felt appetising and energetic. Some applications used a single bold colour; others brought several together in larger, playful compositions.

The system also left room for seasonal flavours. New colours could join the range while the wordmark, typography, and layout kept everything recognisably Melt.

Giving the Brand a Voice

The language needed to sound like the same brand people could see. We kept it short, friendly, and lightly humorous, with phrases such as “Meet your next favourite” and “One more scoop?”

Flavour descriptions offered space for more personality, but clarity came first. Customers should be able to understand what they were ordering quickly. We used straightforward ingredient descriptions, then added small moments of character where they felt natural.

That approach carried through the menu, packaging, and social content. The voice invited people in and helped them choose.

Bringing It Into Everyday Use

Packaging became one of the most important parts of the project. A cup has only a few seconds to make an impression, and it spends much of its life in someone’s hand. We used generous lettering, clear colour contrasts, and simple compositions that remained visible even when partly covered.

Organic graphic shapes added movement across cups, bags, and napkins. Their curves echoed scoops and softening ice cream, creating a flexible visual language for everything from a small sticker to a large window graphic.

For photography, we focused on texture and real moments: the curl of a fresh scoop, a crisp waffle cone, a drip caught just before it fell. These details brought appetite and warmth to the more graphic parts of the identity.

The finished brand gave Melt a consistent presence across its shop, packaging, and website, with enough flexibility to keep evolving. Each element supported the same experience: choosing a flavour, taking that first bite, and enjoying a few minutes that belong entirely to you.