Bujor is a small family-owned Romanian bakery that makes authentic (after a documented recipe) cozonaci - a Romanian traditional dessert similar to Babka. After being on the market for more than 25 years, they decided it was time to expand their business and a rebrand was in order. The client asked for simplicity and minimalism. The main idea of the rebranding strategy was “making tradition and modernity meet“.

The solution came to me after a research period in which I focused on the Romanian Archaic letterforms. I found out that these specific letter shapes were used on Romanian territory on everything from folk album covers, books with jokes, stamps, Romanian Revival architecture (stilul neo-românesc), medieval manuscripts and documents, funeral homes, and pretty much everyone that wanted to evoke a “traditional“ feel used them in packaging.

I identified a few important points regarding these types of letters: they don’t have a theoretic base because throughout the centuries, no one made a “standard“ version, so they are free to interpret as long as you keep an eye on the core stylistic features. They are so embedded in our DNA that we immediately associate them with tradition, religion and as the name suggests: they look old, archaic and that would be a problem because the use of such letters would assume a rusty/dusty vibe to the brand that would make it unappealing for younger audiences.

With that in mind, I sketched a new set of letters with an eye on the main sources of inspiration. Instead of using sharp and pointy angles, I used smoother shapes for the letters so they communicate better the organic and artisanal approach of the brand. I wanted the letters to have a soft and “doughy“ appearance and to look iconic. I used colors inspired by cocoa and dough, two of the main ingredients, and the result is a unique logotype, built from scratch. The greatest feedback I got is that it was approved by Grandma Bujor who started the business a long time ago :)

I made this project in October 2022 while working at glitch-shop.com