Apron Exchange
Room for
more makers.
An identity for a program bringing independent makers into café spaces. A bold name, thoughtful exploration, and a clear relationship to Foodworks.
- Scope
- Brand identity, logo development & illustration
- From the studio
- 2020
- Studio
- Duckfat & Chorizo
A broader
invitation.
A place for people
who make things.
The program’s brief centred on supporting women- and minority-owned businesses through exposure, mentoring, partnerships, and selling space in existing cafés.
The identity began in familiar food territory. During development, the brief widened to include soap makers, jewelers, and other handmade goods. The design needed to make room for that broader community.
From the
working pages.
Finding the right
kind of character.
Bold lettering, a handmade voice, and a range of possible symbols. The working pages make the decisions visible.
The original direction retained grayscale, the founding year, and a smaller “Powered by Foodworks” endorsement. Early studies explored how typography and illustration could carry those ingredients.
The first questions
Start with the name.
Explore the language.
Arched sans-serif lettering, a serif treatment, and a handwritten alternative established different voices. Aprons, cottages, and utensils tested how literally the identity should refer to the work.
The red notes belong to the original design development. They are part of the thinking, preserved alongside the artwork.
The brief opens up
An apron can mean
more than food.
The next studies considered other trades that wear aprons. Handshake drawings explored community, partnership, and exchange.
These were alternatives under consideration. The eventual March approval focused on the wordmark, without a separate Apron symbol.
The decision
and the delivery.
Let the name
do the work.
The March decision put the wordmark first. Confident arched lettering gave Apron Exchange its own presence, with Foodworks kept as a smaller endorsement.
The delivered package included endorsed and standalone versions, with black, white, and gray exports. The two original black versions are shown below.
More from the working pages: secondary forms
September 2020 / Separate delivery
A later addition.
The apron returned as a separately delivered asset after a later client request. It belongs to the project’s continuing development, distinct from the March wordmark decision.
Project details & archive notes
We developed the Apron Exchange identity through wordmark, illustration, and submark studies, then prepared the approved logo assets for delivery.
This case shows 2020 identity development and delivered logo assets. The March approved wordmark, exploratory icon options, submark proposals, and September icon delivery are labeled separately. Original artwork and design annotations are retained; presentation crops remove proof labels and repeated layouts.