Introduction

Lantern is a brand that makes and distributes all-American soft drinks served in major restaurants across the nation. Their products are made with fresh ingredients.

Lantern targets a market of "People on a Budget".

With rebranding they want to convey a old fashioned impression and their audience to feel a sense of importance whenever they consume their beverages.

Client

Lantern

Industry

Food (Beverages)

Service

Packaging and Branding

Year

2026

Establishing Brand Strategy

Brand Goals

Lantern wants an intriguing handcrafted design to evoke a nostalgic feeling.

Brand Mission

A perceptive personality that conveys sense of importance and old fashioned impressions to their audience

Brand Values

Handcrafted , old fashioned , significance

Target Audience

People on a Budget

Strategy notes :

1) Dissect the brief to brainstorm ideas for design elements.
2) Handcraft/Illustrate the main design which highlights the sentiments brand wants to evoke for the customers using the brand colour : Green

Ideation (Brief dissection and Keywords)

Breaking down Keywords into Ideas :
Keyword 1 : Lantern is an "all-American brand"
Dissection : What signifies all-American - The American Flag , Statue of Liberty , The Bald Eagle.

Keeping in mind the brand color Green - the American Flag colour palette is

Incorporating Green in this will change its entire meaning .

Keyword 2 : Brand Value : "Sense of Importance"
Dissection : Something of significance , something that holds a value , something that holds weight
and highlight what weighs more with Bold (Typography , Design Elements)

Keyword 3 : Brand Value : "Old fashioned" :
Dissection : Old school (Old Lantern /oil lamp)
Vintage (Typography)
evoking Nostalgia (Lantern , old advertisements , posters and flyers)
Retro (Color Palette)

Keyboard 4 : Lantern wants an intriguing handcrafted design
Dissection : Handcrafted - Hand drawn , Handwritten , Paper /analog material + Texture)

Final analysis :
I selected Statue of Liberty (covering brand value : Sense of Importance and coherent with "all American" brand symbol) as the main design element holding a Lantern instead of a torch , paired with a retro styled handwritten/calligraphy logo with bold letters

Setting Initial Moodboard (Source : Pinterest)

Choosing the Color Palette

Primary : Green (#346739)

Primary : Green (#9EA46C)

Secondary : #1D2119

Secondary : #C1B87A

The primary brand colour is Green. Keeping in mind the brand values I involved difference shades of Green for branding.

Brand Value 1 : Old Fashioned : Retro Green color shades for Primary -> : #346739 , #9EA46C
Brand Value 2 : Sense of Importance : Bold -> Secondary : #1D2119 for Logo and shadows

Typography

For Logo , I selected 'Marketing Script' and 'Fasty Free' for the final round , as both are very close to the retro style I imagined the logo to be.

Both typefaces have excellent and modifiable existing Baseline and x-height
compared to others in the selection.

Reasons for finalizing on 'Marketing Script':
1) The kerning , xheight is easily modifiable compared to other script typefaces in the selection
2) To include the 'Bold' style , the font weight is just in the sweet spot for adding the extra dominance and character.

Logo Exploration

Creating a custom logo from selected typeface : Marketing Script

Marketing script is a casual script typeface. The default typeface (1st logo as seen below) without any modification , needs a few adjustments in x-height , kerning and tracking .

After fixing x-height , kerning and tracking (2nd logo) and customizing the letter L
the main base of logo is ready.

To personalise the logo further for the brand , I added 'Bold' style using the selected colours in colour palette to make it appear raised and add a 3D appearance. And finally the 'Lantern' to bring the sense of old fashioned impression and overall vintage feel to the brand logo.