Nina in the Kitchen
Identity refinement, motion tuning, brand system design
Evolving a family recipe brand through thoughtful identity refinement
Nina in the Kitchen began as a personal project — a family recipe blog I helped launch shortly after graduating from college. The original identity leaned into a traditional badge-style logo, combining portrait illustration and literal kitchen motifs to capture warmth and personality.
Over time, the brand grew more active on social media, and we began redesigning the website to better support recipe content and storytelling. The identity needed to evolve alongside that shift — not through reinvention, but through refinement.
The Opportunity
As the blog expanded into a more editorial format, a few challenges emerged:
The badge-style logo felt visually heavy at smaller sizes and within social layouts
Script motion lacked continuity, creating visual friction in the wordmark
The brand lacked a flexible mark that could work across avatars, watermarks, and UI
The goal was to create a lighter, more adaptable system while preserving the familiarity of the original brand.
Design Approach
Reducing visual complexity
The identity moved away from literal illustration toward a simplified signature mark, allowing the brand to feel more editorial and less emblem-driven.
Refining motion
Subtle vector adjustments smoothed the underline into a continuous gesture, creating a more cohesive sense of movement across the script.
Building a scalable system
A soft monogram was introduced to support social-first use cases, giving the brand a consistent presence across reels, profile images, and the redesigned website.
Before → After
Original badge-style identity created in 2011
Refined system designed for social and editorial use