Soft serve forecast
Brief
Comelle is an established name in the soft serve world, with strong awareness and category leadership. But with a new wave of younger, more premium brands entering the market, there was a challenge to overcome: Comelle was starting to feel a little old school.
The opportunity was to shift that perception and show that soft serve is about so much more than ice cream. The dessert café and parlour market is worth £500m+, with growth being driven by experience-led desserts, exciting flavours and new ways of enjoying a familiar favourite.
The brief was to create a trend report that would put Comelle at the forefront of that conversation, inspiring foodservice operators with what’s next in soft serve, rather than simply telling them what’s happening now.
The report was designed to launch at the Ice Cream & Artisan Food Show 2026, within Comelle’s own interactive Soft Serve Studio, a dedicated space expected to welcome 8,000 visitors across two days. It would also live beyond the show as a digital experience on Comelle’s website, introducing the first edition of a new series of Soft Serve Forecast guides.
The ambition was clear: reposition Comelle as a modern, innovative and culturally relevant soft serve brand, and establish them as a voice worth listening to when it comes to flavour, consumer behaviour and the future of dessert.
The Solution
I designed an A2 folded trend report that transforms Comelle’s wealth of insights, statistics and data into something genuinely engaging, colourful, visual and easy to digest, while shifting the brand into a more contemporary, trend-led space.
The format was designed to have a life beyond the exhibition. When fully opened, the report becomes a poster revealing the key Spring/Summer 2026 flavour trends and sensory experiences, giving visitors something worth taking away and, ideally, putting up on their walls long after the show.
The visual direction uses a bright, energetic Spring/Summer palette, inspired by the optimism of sunshine, ice cream and seasonal flavour, while carefully working within Comelle’s existing brand colours. The result feels fresh and distinctive without losing the connection to the parent brand.
As this was the first in Comelle’s new Soft Serve Forecast series, I also had to think beyond a single edition. The identity was developed as a flexible visual system, with enough structure to create consistency across future guides, while allowing the creative direction to evolve with the seasons, from Autumn/Winter through to 2027 and beyond.
Delivered
A2 printed and digital trend report
Campaign assets and web banners to promote the report
Website landing page graphics
Infographics and supporting graphics display at the exhibition
Results
Client is very happy (which makes me happy), and he is excited for the rest of 2025, looking to expand his branding to include a gazebo and possibly a van.
2026 Summer update: his business is booming, securing regular local pop ups at pubs and festivals, with his instagram account growing from 350 to 500+ organically in 12 months.
The detail
Colour
This colour palette takes inspiration from a tile from Mediterranean restaurant decor. These iconic med colours evoke Greek and Cyprus nostalgia. All colours were run through a contrast checker to ensure maximum readability.
Blue and white creates a sense of cleanliness and freshness. Adding a touch of yellow and orange can add vibrancy and energy. Yellow is also associated with hunger and happiness.
Typography
Typography plays a defining role in the personality of the Aris identity. I selected Salted as the expressive voice of the brand, using its uppercase letterforms to create a bold, handcrafted presence. The typeface’s varied character styles introduce subtle inconsistencies and movement, reinforcing its hand-drawn quality and giving the identity a sense of warmth, energy and individuality.
Used selectively across headlines and key moments of emphasis, Salted brings personality without compromising legibility. Its crafted imperfections feel particularly appropriate for a brand built around handmade food, passion and the personality of its chef.
To provide balance and structure, League Spartan acts as the supporting typeface. Its clean, contemporary sans-serif forms create a strong counterpoint to Salted’s expressive character, providing clarity across supporting information, pull-out details and body copy.
Together, the typefaces create a considered typographic hierarchy, expressive where the brand needs to speak with personality, and clear where the message needs to be understood. The result is a system that feels confident, contemporary and crafted, with enough flexibility to work seamlessly across the brand’s many touchpoints.
The identity
A hand-drawn logotype sits within a box whose clean yet imperfect lines subtly echo the shape of a pizza box. This balance of structure and playfulness reinforces the crafted, authentic feel.
The pairing of fresh blues with crisp white not only gives a nod to the Mediterranean heritage but also communicates freshness, confidence, and trust , qualities that make the brand feel both dependable and vibrant.
Illustrations
I chose a rustic, hand-drawn illustration style to reinforce the artisanal character at the heart of the Aris brand. Organic linework and intentionally imperfect edges bring a sense of warmth and authenticity, creating a visual language that feels crafted rather than manufactured.
The ingredient-led illustrations provide a natural extension of the brand’s handmade approach, adding personality and storytelling while complementing the expressive typography and wider identity. Their loose, tactile quality helps strike the right balance between rustic charm and contemporary design, ensuring the brand feels authentic without becoming overly traditional.
The illustration system will be developed further to create a distinctive and flexible library of assets that can be applied consistently across the brand’s wider touchpoints.