The Caliva brand Identity

Branding California’s #1 Cannabis CPG company

Caliva needed a brand identity that would scale. We wanted to steer away from the industry cliché and hit the market with a light, fun, sophisticated brand that would resonate with a broader demographic. It started with a new logo and color palette update and quickly turned into the creation of a design system we could apply to our CPG lines.

Project Goals

  • Create a brand identity that would appeal to not only the existing consumer base, but the new and curious demographic.

  • Create logo mark and word mark

  • Create a design style guide

  • Create templates for B2C emails

  • Create internal communication templates

Role and Responsibilities

  • Senior brand designer and art direction

  • Worked closely with the VP of brand and a small team of remote designers

  • Facilitated workshops for defining the vision and direction of the brand

  • Communicated with VP and CEO on a daily basis

  • Lead the effort for the Caliva Style Guide

Process

We were a small, agile team comprised of A players. Our VP of brand had the vision which I was able to quickly understand and begin putting designs on paper/screen to make it a reality. A combination of hand sketching, digital mood boards, experience workshops, and a lot of brainstorming helped us get to a place that we felt had a solid foundation for a effective, scalable brand presence.

Some early mood boards I put together to start the conversation.

Caliva Logo Guidelines

Caliva Color Palette

Caliva Illustration Guidelines

Sample Box Packaging - Branding, graphics, and structural design.

Sample Box in production

Display Block Sketches

Product Display Blocks

Cube Jar Sketches

Cube Jar Rendering

Outcome

We effectively launched the Caliva Brand Style Guide, a living document that allowed us to begin creating collateral in a cohesive consistent way. We developed a color system that tied a variety of our product SKUs together, while allowing for individual personality when necessary.

Some key insights

  • We looked outside the cannabis space for inspiration here

  • Both end customers and B2B customers were very perceptive to our branding aesthetics. It didn’t feel too “weedy”

  • Targeting the new/curious consumer was a key factor in choosing our brand language.

Actions taken so far

  • Style Guide went live and designs started following guidelines

  • 16 product SKUs have been created following the guidelines

  • Design language and rules applied to our e-commerce platforms