How We Designed a Premium Ice Cream Brand Starting With a Fruit
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Designed a premium ice cream brand identity as part of a Visual Design course, translating a fruit-inspired concept into a cohesive visual system through color, typography, and branding.
University of Texas at Austin
3 weeks
Diya
Twisha
Subalaxmi
Grace
Visual Design Project
Fall 2025
what did i do?
Designed a premium ice cream brand identity from scratch, starting with a fruit-led concept to visually communicate freshness, flavor, and indulgence. I crafted the brand’s visual language, color palette, typography, packaging direction, and overall aesthetic system, ensuring consistency across all touchpoints.
why was it done?
To create a distinctive, premium ice cream brand that stands out in a crowded market by evoking taste through visuals, increasing shelf appeal, and building an emotional connection with consumers. The goal was to balance playfulness with sophistication while clearly signaling quality and flavor.
the impact?
Created a cohesive, scalable brand system that:
Clearly differentiates flavors through color and fruit cues
Enhances perceived product quality and premium positioning
Communicates freshness and indulgence at first glance
Is adaptable across packaging, marketing, and digital platforms
what did i learn?
Learned how concept-driven visual systems can strengthen brand storytelling, and how color, typography, and form can be used to translate sensory experiences like taste and texture. Also gained experience balancing expressive branding with clarity and consistency for real-world product design.
About this project:
Melty is a conceptual premium ice cream brand developed as part of a Visual Design course project. The project focused on applying core visual design principles of color theory, typography, composition, and visual hierarchy and to create a cohesive brand identity from the ground up. Starting with a fruit-inspired concept, the brand explores how visual elements can communicate flavor, freshness, and premium quality. This project demonstrates the use of design systems and branding fundamentals to translate abstract concepts into a compelling, real-world product experience.
What was the problem?
The First Question: What Should Dragon Fruit Become?
Once we chose dragon fruit, our next challenge wasn’t visual, it was conceptual.
What kind of product actually fits this fruit?
We explored multiple directions early on, but ice cream stood out almost immediately. Dragon fruit already feels cold, refreshing, creamy, and indulgent. Ice cream allowed us to lean into all of that especially its texture.
But we didn’t want just another fun, sugary dessert brand.
We asked ourselves:
What if this was health-conscious?
What if it felt premium, not playful or childish?
What if indulgence didn’t look loud?
That’s how Melty began to take shape — a tropical ice cream brand that balances luxury, softness, and nutrition.
Defining Who Melty Is For
Before designing anything, we had to decide who we were designing for.
Melty is meant for urban, health-conscious consumers ; people who are willing to pay more for high-quality ingredients and thoughtful branding. These are premium buyers who want:
No added sugar
High protein
A product that looks refined, not gimmicky
As we looked at existing brands in this space, we noticed a clear gap. Many healthy ice creams focus heavily on function, but very few pair that with a luxurious tropical visual identity.
That gap became our opportunity.
Searching for a Visual Language
With our direction clearer, we moved into visual exploration.
One thing became obvious very early: patterns would matter more than illustrations.
As we studied competitive products and built our moodboard, a few design components kept surfacing:
Minimal subtext to communicate health benefits
Very restrained illustrations
Patterns doing the heavy lifting
Strong logotypes
We drew inspiration from:
Tropical landscapes
Beach waves
Abstract fluid motion
The vibrant flesh of dragon fruit itself
Everything we explored pointed toward movement, softness, and flow.
We wanted the brand to feel creamy, not just say it.
Typography: When Nothing Felt Right
Typography ended up being one of the most important — and frustrating; parts of the process.
We explored everything:
Elegant serif fonts that looked premium but too formal
Experimental curved fonts that felt distracting
Clean geometric fonts that lacked warmth
Rounded sans-serifs that felt friendly but generic
No matter what we tried, something felt off.
Ice cream is indulgent. It melts. It moves. And none of the fonts we tested captured that feeling.
That’s when we realized: we didn’t need to find the right font; we needed to design it.
Making the Word “Melty” Actually Melt
Our breakthrough came when we stopped thinking of typography as text and started thinking of it as texture.
We designed a custom logotype inspired by:
Melting ice cream drips
Fluid, wavy motion
Rounded, organic forms
Explorations for Custom Font
Every curve was intentional. The goal was for the word Melty to visually behave the way ice cream does- soft, slow, and slightly unpredictable.
The final typography doesn’t just label the product.
It communicates creaminess, indulgence, and motion at first glance.
Press enter or click to view image in full size
Color as a Flavor Cue
We even personalized the typography for each flavor, adding subtle character while keeping the brand cohesive. Once typography was locked, color became our next storytelling tool.
Each flavor got its own palette:
Mango–Dragon Fruit: warm yellows and bold oranges
Coconut–Dragon Fruit: calm blues with beachy freshness
Original Dragon Fruit: soft pinks with vibrant contrast
Color Palette Explorations
Across all palettes, we maintained:
Light and dark balance
Soft accent shapes
Strong contrast for readability
Together, the system feels fresh, premium, and tropical — without being overwhelming.
We finalised on our Color palette and Design System then
Setting Clear Design Boundaries
As we moved toward final designs, we made a conscious decision about what Melty would not be.
No mascots.
No sharp geometric shapes.
No cluttered illustrations.
No cliché ice-cream symbols like cones or sprinkles.
Those elements pulled the brand away from the direction we wanted.
Instead, we focused on:
Fluid shapes
Clean layouts
Visible fruit cues
A sense of continuation and calm
Every choice was about restraint and letting the product breathe.
Design Explorations
Final Designs
As patterns emerged, so did clarity.
We realized Melty felt strongest when the design stayed clean, fluid, and intentional. From our explorations, we finalized on a direction that consistently communicated indulgence without clutter.
Our final design system focused on:
Visible fruit cues to immediately signal flavor
Distinct flavor identities while maintaining brand cohesion
Soft, fluid shapes that reflected creaminess
No added sugar & high protein as clear selling points
Vibrant but controlled colors to maintain a premium look
This step was less about choosing what looked good — and more about choosing what felt right for the brand.
Bringing the Product to Life
Once the visual language was locked, we applied it to the final product renders.
This was where everything came together- typography, color, patterns, and texture working as one system. The packaging needed to feel confident, indulgent, and shelf-ready while still staying minimal and elegant.
The product visuals emphasize:
The richness and creaminess of the ice cream
Strong flavor recognition through color
A clean hierarchy of information
A premium, lifestyle-driven appeal
These renders helped us imagine Melty not just as a concept, but as a brand you could realistically see and want to pick up.
Melty Merch
My learnings from this:
Working on the color tagging feature taught me the power of observation, empathy, and iteration in UX design. Even small changes, like introducing color-coded tags instead of relying on emojis, can make a big difference in how users perceive and interact with a product. I learned the importance of testing multiple solutions, listening carefully to user feedback, and being willing to pivot when something does not work as expected. Beyond just functionality, this project reminded me that thoughtful design creates clarity, delight, and a smoother experience for users, and that every tiny decision contributes to a product that feels intuitive and human-centered.