BFREE is a research and education facility located in the rainforest of southern Belize along the beautiful Bladens River. Comfortable base camp facilities are offered including a bunkhouse, thatched palapas for camping, solar electricity for equipment, library, phone, fax, email, organic garden, and a staffed kitchen offering three meals daily. BFREE works with local Belizean Mayans to plant heritage cacao instead of deforesting common rainforest lands for cattle grazing and slash and burn agriculture, thereby preserving the fragile habitat while developing sustainable income sources within the local community.

Description

This project includes Discovery, Design, and Production phases. The final deliverables are as follows:

• Brand identity conveying the brand personality and attributes as visualized in logo and/or wordmark. This includes competitive analysis and other appropriate research materials.
• Stationery package: letterhead, Nº 10 envelope, 2x4 inch envelope label, and set-up of up to 10 business cards (electronic files, excludes printing)
• One collateral item selected from the following: powerpoint template (up to 4 different screens); trade show/event banner; 20 x 30 inch poster; tri-fold or similar brochure with writing and photography provided by BFREE.
• Brand book: conveys the brand’s concept in relation to BFREE and guidelines for use, including typography, color, photography, and tone. The book specifies the design and use of selected collateral materials
• Website supporting the new BFREE identity: creating a new information architecture to surface information most important to BFREE and their constituents; creating a visual design based on the new brand identity; creating a functional, informative, and engaging home page; laying out additional content pages; developing the menu system for easy input of information; creating new tags and categories for easy searching; optimizing the site for SEO; and two training sessions for BFREE on how to update and use the website.

Objective

Identity, style guide, collateral, and website architecture, design, development, and implementation.

Strengths

Purity 
Local Reputation 
New Production Facility

Audience

Western European & US Consumers who are interested in either the Gourmet value or Health value of honey or both. 

Brand Attributes 

Authenticity - Heritage 
Purity - Quality - Hand Crafted 
Environmentally Friendly - Sustainable 
Sophisticated - Gourmet - Unique 

Research/Strategy

BFREE’s motives encompass making a better future for Belize’s environment, community, people, and animals. 

Outcomes

Students developed initial prototypes for a new venture to bring single-source cacao to market under fair-trade and ethical conditions. 

Direction 1

Sáamal, meaning tomorrow in Yucatec Maya, encompasses BFREE’s motives to make a better future for Belize’s environment, community, people, and animals. We created a mayan-inspired, sustainable, and bird-friendly product using appropriate symbols, patterns, and colors. The gold represents Mayan gold, the brown as chocolate, and the teal, pink and purple as the vivid colors sampled from the rainforest. Referencing ancient Mayan glyphs, the logomark is angular yet modernized. Small inserts within the packaging bring awareness to the diversity of migratory and native birds that are on the BFREE plantation, informing consumers even more about BFREE’s initiatives.

Direction 2

BFREE Organic Chocolate is centered around three ideas: Sustainability, Mayan Culture, and the birds found in the region. The mark created is meant to reference bird feathers as well as allude to the idea of a gift. The chocolate itself is a gift from Mayan culture and the gem-like quality of the logo reflects this uniqueness. 

Direction 3

BFREE, The Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Educa- tion, is a non-profit company based in Belize, dedicated to the research and education of rainforest conservation. The company stands for organic, locally–made products that do not disrupt the natural fl ow of the habitat. Using agroforestry techniques, BFREE has produced healthy cacao which they have turned into their own unique blend of Mayan chocolate. This identity’s focus is to emphasize the bold, fresh, and exciting aspects of this chocolate. We chose the Harpy Eagle to stand as the logo mark. This particular bird holds a strong connection with the BFREE company while also referencing the bird-friendly aspect of their farming methods. Taking inspiration from traditional Mayan art, we utilized a geometric, angular style in the aesthetic of the mark. Extending this style to the pack- aging, we worked with asymmetry in both the images and text to represent the brand as something fresh and contemporary.