OVERVIEW
Brand identity and creative direction for a Filipino-inspired bakery, including packaging, seasonal campaigns, custom merchandise, and community-centered storytelling.
Brand identity and creative direction for a Filipino-inspired bakery, including packaging, seasonal campaigns, custom merchandise, and community-centered storytelling.
CHALLENGE
Develop a complete brand identity celebrating Filipino heritage for a small bakery scaling from home kitchen to wholesale distribution, while maintaining cost-effective production methods for shipping, packaging, and marketing on a minimal budget.
Develop a complete brand identity celebrating Filipino heritage for a small bakery scaling from home kitchen to wholesale distribution, while maintaining cost-effective production methods for shipping, packaging, and marketing on a minimal budget.
CLIENT
Salamat Dough
YEAR
2020
DELIVERABLES
Photography Branding
ROLE
Creative Direction
Brand Identity & Visual System
Brand Development:
Developed a cohesive visual identity celebrating Filipino flavors and culture. The brand name "Salamat Dough" combines the Tagalog word for "thank you" with a playful nod to the product, immediately communicating both cultural pride and personality.
Design Strategy:
Created a vibrant color system that remained consistent across all brand touchpoints, from packaging to digital presence.
Copywriting & Naming:
Developed all cookie flavor names and marketing copy pre-AI era, creating memorable names that told stories about Filipino ingredients and culture.
Applications:
Business cards
Product photography styling
Social media templates and graphics
Website design with e-commerce functionality
Custom merchandise designs
Wholesale collateral
Pop-up and market signage
Packaging & Production Design
Label System:
Designed a cost-effective labeling system balancing brand quality with budget constraints. Created designs with white backgrounds and strategic color use to minimize ink costs while maintaining brand consistency. Used Cricut cutting for in-house label production.
Packaging Solutions:
Standard cookie packaging with custom labels
Noche Buena holiday box with special seasonal logo featuring hand-drawn Christmas elements and festive patterns
Valentine's Day specialty boxes
White shipping boxes maintaining brand cohesion across all customer touchpoints
Creative Problem-Solving:
Developed insulated packaging solutions with ice packs to enable summer shipping and maintain product quality across long distances, allowing for national and international orders.
Seasonal Products & Content Creation
DIY Photography Setup:
Created professional product photography in-house using poster boards, photo lights, and creative styling. Maintained consistent visual quality across all product shots for social media, website, and marketing materials.
Limited Edition Releases:
Pride Month rainbow cookies with community photoshoot featuring LGBTQ+ members
March Lucky Charms-inspired cookies
April Fools' Hot Cheetos cookies
Valentine's Day specialty boxes
Christmas Noche Buena boxes with four-cookie customization and special seasonal logo featuring hand-drawn Christmas elements
Champorado cookies (Filipino chocolate rice porridge-inspired)
Rainbow macarons inside cookies (Little Blue Macaroon collaboration)
Black History Month campaign highlighting community members alongside products
Brand Storytelling:
Paired product photography with educational content about Filipino ingredients and culture, introducing customers to champorado, ube, black sesame, and other traditional flavors through accessible, engaging storytelling.
Community Engagement:
Created "Top Secret" blind taste test program for new flavors, involving customers in product development and building excitement around innovation.
Collaborations, Distribution & Events
Small Business Collaborations:
12 Paws Ice Cream: black sesame cookie + matcha ice cream sandwich
Andia's Ice Cream: custom vegan ube flavor development
Little Blue Macaroon: rainbow macaron-stuffed cookie for Pride Month
Local artist: co-designed pride tote bag sold through Salamat Dough website
Wholesale Distribution:
Multiple boba shop locations
Local ramen restaurant
Catering services including a complete wedding
Pop-Up Events:Organized and designed materials for pop-up events at local markets, creating face-to-face connections with customers and expanding brand awareness beyond digital channels.
Partnership Strategy:
Built relationships with complementary local businesses to expand reach, cross-promote to aligned audiences, and create unique limited-edition products that benefited both brands.
Custom Merchandise & Screen Printing
Apparel Design & Production:
Learned screen printing techniques to produce custom merchandise in-house, controlling quality and costs while building brand visibility.
Products Created:
"Equality" sweatshirt (hand screen-printed, custom color mixing, Cricut-cut templates)
"Black Lives Still Matter" t-shirts (hand-printed)
Pride tote bags (collaboration with local artist)
Production Process:
Self-taught screen printing including color mixing, template creation with Cricut, and hand-printing techniques to maintain quality while keeping production costs minimal.
Digital Presence & E-Commerce
Website:
Designed and built custom e-commerce website with consistent branding, enabling local pickup and international shipping options. Integrated ordering system, product galleries, and educational content about Filipino flavors.
Social Media Management:
Maintained active presence across Facebook and Instagram with cohesive visual identity, regular product launches, behind-the-scenes content, and community engagement.
Marketing Campaigns:
Seasonal product launches and limited edition releases
Educational content about Filipino ingredients and cultural context
Collaboration announcements and promotions
Community spotlights and charitable initiatives
Outcome
Delivered a complete brand identity and operational system that enabled the bakery to scale from initial concept to multi-channel distribution:
Launched 15+ unique Filipino-inspired cookie flavors with culturally educational marketing
Established wholesale presence at multiple retail locations including boba shops and restaurants
Created partnerships with 5+ local businesses for product collaborations
Designed packaging system enabling national and international shipping
Developed seasonal campaigns that raised funds for charitable organizations
Maintained cohesive brand identity across all customer touchpoints from digital to physical
Design Philosophy:
Every element celebrated Filipino culture while remaining accessible and scalable. From ingredient education to community partnerships, the brand used design and marketing to share heritage through an approachable, joyful product.
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