Creative direction and graphic design; visual and verbal branding.
Winner: Best of Print ADDY, Gold ADDY for Integrated Brand Campaign, and Silver ADDY for Individual Packaging (AAF Caribbean, 2025)
Branding Cocoyay is a project that has my whole heart for a number of reasons. First was working with Isabel Brash, who I initially met in 2010 when I interviewed her for an article about her then-fledgling company, Cocobel Chocolate. Over the years, Cocobel has grown into a beloved local brand, so it was a huge honour to be asked to lead creative direction for this new snack that she’d won an innovation grant to make. For almost two years, we worked closely together — while she developed the snack itself, she trusted me to lead on the look and feel.
Naming came first. “Cocoyay” was born out of a sense of celebration, and from the narrative we developed around a cocoa thrush named Coco who goes exploring Trinidad and Tobago, taking us on a journey with her to learn about where our food comes from. This thread was developed as Isabel wanted to showcase the local and natural aspects of the brand – particularly important to her was that people got to understand where their food was coming from, and to be introduced to the farmers and makers who are growing and/or processing the key ingredients – cocoa, hill rice, cassava, as well as local fruits and spices. Connecting with these farmers and entrepreneurs was one of the project highlights for me!
Key words like “local,” “natural,” “joyful” and “honest” guided me through the colour palette and the general look and feel. Then, after roughing out the packaging design, I called on some serious talent. Typeface designer Agyei Archer drew our adorable logo letters based on cocoa beans, while Aliyah Emmanuel did our illustrations, including Coco. Office Authority fulfilled our mission to produce our packaging locally, using natural materials and no plastics, while honouring our need (yes, NEED!) to have an embossed logo and lyrics reveal. When we were ready to launch, Jon Dieffenthaller made us some music, and we got to work with Damian Libert who created the motion graphics that introduced Cocoyay to the world, while Michele Jorsling took stunning product photos and did the cutest stop motion videos. I’m quite fond of talking about magic happening in the intersection of talent and trust, and this is one of those projects that bears that out so clearly. My wins aren’t mine alone – I could have never done this without the extraordinary team of people who all said yes. Check out Cocoyay’s website and Instagram, or this episode of Eat Ah Food’s GrownHome for more about the project.
SUMMARY | Role: Creative Direction and Graphic Design: Packaging, Website, Branding
Client: Cocobel Chocolate
Product development/chocolatier: Isabel Brash
Logo typeface design: Agyei Archer
Illustrations: Aliyah Emmanuel
Product photography and stop motion videos: Michele Jorsling
Motion graphics: Damian Libert
Original music: Jon Dieffenthaller, Mang Productions
