JK Design Co. – Big White Yeti Rebrand

Big White Yeti is a Milwaukee based home fragrance company focused on handmade soy wax candles. The brand started in a Bayview, Wisconsin kitchen in 2012 as an experiment. The result has been an extremely popular product that focuses on high-end scents with punny, witty, and thoughtfully creative names.The original look of the brand was born out of necessity – they needed a label asap if they were going to sell candles on Etsy. They used a stock illustration of a cute little yeti. Fast forward to 2018, BWY has outgrown their look. Their company had grown exponentially, their product evolved, but their cute little yeti looked tired. They soon approached me for a face lift. After extensive conversations and research it became evident that the brand aesthetic needed to have a more contemporary look, but still needed to visually infuse the quirky personality that the brand had become. Simple colors and mono-line illustrations are used to streamline the look of the yeti and his tools. Because the yeti had become the focal point of the brand, it seemed natural to lean more into the character. Along with a redesign of the yeti himself came a series of visuals that focused in on the elements that he wears, and the environment that he lives in. The result is a collection of icons, from hats and gloves to icicles and trees, that nod to the yeti in an abstract way.  The first and largest deliverable after the brand refresh was the candle jar packaging. The same tools and thought processes that were used for the brand elements were also used for packaging design.The main focus of the packaging became the yeti’s landscape. The goal was to create a system for the jars that when placed side-by-side, created the illusion of one connected illustration.