brand creation

Small Business Project

Product: Hawaiian shaved ice

Target Consumer: Children of ages 4 through 16

A Hawaiian shaved ice business that prides itself in product quality and craft. Located in a small town in the Central Valley of California, this business began as a vendor in the town's annual carnival and farmer's markets. Once the brand was established, we began servicing private parties and events.

This project idea began with our love for slushies and the desire for a dessert that is more refreshing than ice cream! Shaved ice resembles snow and the syrups consist of the flavors from tropical paradise. And above all, they're easier to make!

The annual carnival is always held for four days during the summer, which reaches triple digit-humid weather. It is the biggest event that the town hosts with a large food court, live music and various scheduled activities throughout the day. With our target consumer on summer vacation, limited frozen dessert options and ticket sales in the thousands, we knew this had huge potential for success.

Logo Design

This logo was inspired by Apollo, a Miniature Schnauzer. I began with a freehand sketch and then digitalized it using Photoshop. I added snow goggles because we want customers to associate the brand and product with cooler weather.

Product Quality and Development

Although a snow cone is a simple concept, the creation of the final product was strategically designed. We began with the quality of the ice. Since it's Hawaiian styled shaved ice, it had to be thinly shaved to perfectly melt on the tongue. In addition, the ice has to be layered into the cup to absorb the syrup without falling apart but also prevent it from quickly melting on a hot summer's day. Snow Paws Shaved Ice received a reputation for the best frozen dessert at the event with a few customers asking for business cards. With at least four other snow cone vendors present, focusing on the product quality helped us stand out from the competition.

Flavor Menu

There are almost 100 flavors of syrup for shaved ice. We chose the most tropical syrups to highlight the flavors found in tropical paradise such as Hawaii. We kept toppings simple: sweetened condensed milk, chamoy and tajin. Once this menu was set, we experimented on a combination of flavors and toppings that we knew would appeal to the population. One example is the snow cone pictured above: the Mangoneada. Half Pineapple and half Mango syrups, topped with chamoy, tajin and a popular Mexican candy. It blended sweet and spicy, imitating a popular Mexican Mango dessert. With a majority of the population in this town being Latino, this was a customer favorite!