Schellen Bell is a Swiss Alpine Cheese product distributed to the US market by Gourmet Foods International. In November 2019, GFI decided to outsource creative for their new product Schellen Bell and contacted me to design their brand and packaging under the influence of an interesting Swiss folk tale.
Brand: Schellen Bell
Client: Gourmet Foods International
Location: Atlanta, USA
Date of Project: November 2019
Branding and Packaging Design: Zeki Michael
Comic Book Designed by Zeki Michael, Written by Natalie Scott and Brewster McCall
The Story
As the Swiss children lined up for the Chalandamarz parade, Ursli was stuck in the back, looking down at the tiny bell in her hand. The kids with the biggest bells were always in front. Determined, she vowed that somehow she would lead the next parade.
Afraid but determined, she made a plan. She packed a bag and hiked into the snow covered Alps. Eluding Frost Giants that once ruled over all of Switzerland, Ursli found safety in caves and climbed the mountains until she discovered a snow covered cabin. Inside was the largest bell she had ever seen.
Front and center leading the next parade, she carried her enormous bell proudly as the whole village cheered and cheered. This cheese is for the undiscouraged, the underdogs, and those of us who dare to dream bigger.
- A few details from the Brand Exploration.
Inspiration
A logo is usually designed to represent a brand and its values in the simplest and most efficient way. In this case, Schellen Bell’s most prominent value is its amazing story.
While working on Gourmet Foods International’s latest and finest Swiss Alpine Cheese product Schellen Bell, we decided to combine GFI’s values of high quality and freshness with the inspirational Swiss folk tale using imagery and visual storytelling. Rather than beginning with the design of the logo first and then working on the packaging labels, we designed the whole cheese wheel and the story before creating the actual logo. This enabled us to fully reflect the values of the story and the Swiss culture. We then minimalised the wheel label down and selected Ursli, the main character to use as the primary logo. This has resulted in a responsive brand system and a recreation of the Schellen Bell story. In brief, Schellen Bell’s brand system is a minimalistic approach of the story and incorporates several versions of the logo – the wheel label being the main brand image and the most important asset in the responsive brand design system.
At the historic Studer Dairy, in Switzerland, Schellen Bell begins it’s journey. Aged for a minimum of 10 months, Schellen Bell gains complexity with maturity.
Zeki Michael Design 