Hélastige is a gelato brand based in Davis, California, and founded by the Goodman siblings in 2020. A family-owned business that sells handmade gelato with different flavors made from natural ingredients.

Many people confuse gelato with ice cream. Gelato is low fat, it’s made with lower butterfat and contains less air which gives it a denser look and richness in flavor than any other traditional ice cream. Not only will you have more gelato in a scoop, but you also can play with it due to its elasticity. The experience is delectable.

The inspirations for the identity came from their story, when their father bought them a cone of ice cream and told them to share it on a hot summer afternoon, they were instantly happy. Growing up with the memory of sharing an ice cream cone and being content with it, they want to spread that feeling to everyone by opening a gelato shop.

Based on the inspirations, we wanted to create an identity that looks fun, jovial, and flexible. We decided to create a symbol that represents the smile on everybody’s face when they enjoy the succulent gelato. In addition, we also wanted to split the characters in the wordmark and have fun playing with them like we have fun eating gelato instead of stylizing the wordmark in a chubby and funny way. The color palette is something we love about this project. Red represents the heat of the summer and happiness when people enjoy the Italian dish. Coral White is the typical color of ice cream and also the color of vanilla which everybody loves.

The outcome of the identity is marvelous, we successfully applied the icon in many aspects and the typography could not be more eye-catching. We are glad that we can put a smile on this project.