How did Caserne make health food branding feel less intimidating?

Health food branding tends to speak in whispers. A visual language of muted greens, earnest beiges and clean minimalism that often says: this is serious, this requires commitment, this is for people who already know the rules. For Avril, a Quebec health food retailer with 13 stores and nearly three decades of history, that visual vocabulary had become a barrier. The brand held genuine expertise and a fiercely loyal customer base, but struggled to invite anyone new through the door. Caserne, the Montreal studio founded in 2012, was tasked with opening the brand without diluting what made it distinctive. Working alongside creative strategy studio Studio 15%, the team faced a particular tension: Avril needed to feel welcoming to newcomers whilst reassuring existing customers that standards hadn’t slipped. The solution emerged not from introducing something new, but from amplifying what already existed. Avril’s growth symbol – a curved, ascending form suggesting progression – had been part of the brand’s visual toolkit for years. Rather than designing around it or relegating it to secondary status, Caserne elevated it to become the entire system’s organising principle. “Beyond its recognisability, it embodied the idea of progression, something that grows over time, incrementally,” explains Léo Breton-Allaire, Partner & Creative Director at Caserne. “This aligned perfectly with the strategic shift we were asked to support, moving away from an intimidating, all-or-nothing vision of health toward a more accessible, human one.”