King Arthur Flour has a special place in my cupboard, as it has in many other homes over its 250-year history. In 2020 they underwent a brand overhaul which involved renaming their company to King Arthur Baking Company and getting a whole new set of graphics. Unlike many companies that try to do away with their historic charm, King Arthurs’s redesign is classy and modern while maintaining the dignity and sophistication that should come with a well-established brand.
There was no “grand vision” for this as far as I can tell, they just wanted to recognize that they had expanded to sell more than just flour and to better reflect the range of the company. The website description of why they changed the name includes this charming image of their 1996 website design, which really cheesily plays into the old-timey castle vibe of the brand. Although I personally love the unabashed embracing of the tacky medieval theme, their new website is sleek and modern without being too sparse like so many are these days.
The design was done by Little Co, who has worked with the likes of Target and Lowes. Their website has one of those popular animations of the old logo turning into the new logo which is actually quite cute. It shows the horse on the old logo riding out of frame and then gives us an image of a wheat stalk growing into what becomes the front of the crown. Little Co. states, “At the center of the new logo, the wheat crown. Representing King Arthur’s heritage, quality, commitment to agriculture and, most of all, baking.” And honestly? It totally works for them. It gives a strong nod to the root of their company, the flour, and still acknowledges the name of the brand and the medieval theme. The crown is very well done in my opinion, there are plenty of ways to draw a simple crown that might fit the modern times but the extra detailing of the wheat, as well as the splash of red underneath it to tie in that color, speaks to both the old and the new.
The wheat symbolism was used a lot in the launch, Little Co had a large social media campaign since they launched it during a pandemic. We got to see the wheat pattern in most of the deliverables, from Instagram stories to swag, to even seeing real wheat laid next to bread.
This didn’t come across as “we get it you sell flour” to me at all, it was very tastefully done and was variant enough that it tied it together without overdoing it. I think their mock-ups and brand photography was really well done overall. There was lots of variety with it, from a rustic measuring cup to a well-loved cutting board to a very charming and sleek delivery van. Really, I can’t get over this van. It only uses the neutral colors from the branding so it wouldn’t be a driving hazard on the road but it still somehow perfectly captures the spirit of the redesign.
Measuring cup with 2020 logo 
Cutting board with 2020 logo
The brand photography we got with this had a very comfortable amount of diversity. You can tell an effort was made without them completely overstepping. Not only did we get race diversity but there was also a good amount of age diversity which I probably wouldn’t have thought of but it encapsulates the spirit of baking really well.
The color palette used in all of the places I have shown so far is tasteful and subdued, perfect for the natural qualities of the brand and the deep rich colors for the richness of the company history. However, in a few spots on the launch, they used this awful eye-attacking neon red. I see that they needed a brighter and a darker red for the packaging as well as some of the merchandising, but this other red is a particular eye-sore. At this point, I believe there are four different reds being worked with which is altogether unnecessary. I can’t quite tell which red is used for the red on the flour bag, but it works well in contrast to the simple colors or the rest of the bag and to stand out on the shelf. I was very particularly grieved by this set of graphics, which I’m not even sure was used anywhere other than Little Co’s website but they really stood out as bright and tacky in contrast to everything else I saw. I hate them.
It looks like some of these designs were also applied as a button set but those are much more subdued and work much better.
In conclusion? I think this brand overhaul was very successfully done and was pleasing to me as a customer and designer, with the exception of the tacky little animations that were included with the launch packet.
