Platform’s flavoursome, divergent brand for Zi Sweet revels in its classic/contemporary contrast

Auckland-based design studio Platform have created the delicate and charming identity for local pâtisserie and bakery Zi Sweet. With so much competition in the industry, Platform opted for a straightforward solution that balances Zi Sweet’s dedication to the traditional craft of baking with its innovative, contemporary and tasty interpretations. This duality of modernity and heritage manifests in the notion of contrast, as embodied through the identity’s combination of graphic fluidity, rigid structure and typographic application. “Like most studios, we’re suckers for the work that Dinamo continuously produces,” Designer Aitken Hawkins tells us, opting for their monospaced serif ABC Gaisyr, alongside GT Cinetype from Grilli Type and Rhetorik Serif from AllCaps. “This combination is a result from the guiding ethos of the brand,” he continues, noting the clash between classic and contemporary, “every typeface we think embodies this ethos on a micro level,” taking a step back and looking at the brand. “Zooming out, there’s a monospace, mixed with an eccentric serif, topped off with a sans serif body type that does not have a single curve,” Hawkins remarks, “a mash of history.” Zi Sweet’s historical contrast is further illustrated within its logomark, the unconventional arrangement of which certainly stands out amongst the traditionally set marques of its competition. “Boiling it down to the very core of it, what’s (contextually) traditional?” Hawkins questions, embellishing, “and what’s (contextually) contemporary?” Answering both questions with the introduction of “counter-intuitive” negative space between letters, befitted with a monospace designed with eccentric kerning standards. “It causes a second look but still embodies a harmonious balance to our subjective tastes,” he adds, countering this idiosyncrasy with a clear-cut, simple colour palette. “The type of ‘royal’ blue we’re using is fairly synonymous with prestige,” Hawkins concludes, “opposed to the jolly pinks that we see in baking companies – Zi’s direction looks to have them taken seriously.”