Designed by Subplot.

Founded in 1997, Level Ground Trading’s mission is to trade fairly and directly with small-scale producers in developing countries, and to market their products in North America, offering their customers ethical choices. The company steadily grew a local, loyal following for their range of coffees, as well as recent introductions of raw cane sugar and dried fruit. However, as the company and brand grew, Level Ground began to compete with more sophisticated brands farther afield, and were failing to connect in a meaningful way with a broader consumer audience.
The new logomark declares boldly the superiority of “Direct Fair Trade”: two hands (and dialogue bubbles) shake, forming an “equal” sign between them. This brand identity is founded on equality, fairness and relationships, and brings a human touch right into the logomark itself.
The packaging platform takes the thought further: the producer is the real hero. The producers grace authentic kraft bags, with a label that declares Level Ground’s expertise and deep knowledge of the origins and taste profiles of each of their coffees. The Identity Platform completes the circle: engaging copy like “We shake the hands that pick the coffee”, “Coffee lover. Meet coffee grower”, and “Good. From crop to cup” expresses the duality of “direct fair trade” and “superior coffee”.

Stéphane Ouaknine is the scion of a revered Parisienne Pharmacy and, though pharmacist by occupation, his true vocation is that of a dreamer who’s love of great beauty and classic design has led him to bring to life La Société Parisienne de Savons.
It has been my privilege to be a part of this project from the beginning during the search for reference materials through the sometimes complicated process of seeking out heirs to now defunct companies and obtaining permission to revive stunning vintage designs that had all but ceased to exist.
Working from faded scraps of ancient labels, I expanded upon the designs and created typography to extend them over complete suites of products.

All the while, Stéphane was lining up suppliers and manufacturers whom he felt could do justice the designs and maintain the strictest control over quality of reproduction.

Ending with an international website for which I fought stridently to keep from looking gimmicky, busy, distracting or (basically like most other overdone commerce websites), we will enter the new year poised to bring these products to those whose hearts resonate with love of beauty and authenticity.

La Société Parisienne De Savons celebrates the elegance and style of Art Deco in a collection of subtly scented soaps, powders, balms and more in fragrances from the familiar to exotic with authentic vintage design and typography in homage to the lavish and elaborate packages of a bygone era.

Miller Creative was responsible for: brand naming, brand identity, packaging for dog treats, (another fabulous people-confection coming soon!) and website/landing page.

The dog treats bag was letterpress printed – mainly because of the (small) size of the run and the stock bags we wanted to use. We couldn’t get a screen printer to take on the job, so we decided to pursue letterpress printing. Jon Selikoff of Vote for Letterpress was willing to take on this challenging job, which ended up printing beautifully. The bags were printed both front and back, with virtually no show-through thanks to his impeccable attention to detail.