with the grain bakery

Guelph, Ontario, Canada

What started as a part-time job serving coffee and treats became a full-time design position with a management title. I am forever grateful to Erin, owner of With the Grain Bakery, for the opportunity to showcase my designs and photography in such a professional space. Below are images of some of the special projects created exclusively for the bakery. Projects include product photography, event design, illustration, social media outreach, printouts, and even cake decorating.

daily item schedules | new and improved

Every day of the week, a selection of fresh bread, muffins, and scones is available at the bakery. The earliest bakers arrive between three and four AM and begin preparing every menu item for the day. To know which items would be baked on any given day, customers could reference the large chalkboard sign hung on the wall. At the time, With the Grain’s social media platforms and website had not been updated frequently enough to provide current menu changes, which meant customers would have to remember the menu or take a photo with their mobile phones for reference. These free take-home menus were designed to be available at the front counter. They include the rotating schedule for every day of the week, as well as the dietary information often requested in-store.

Photography

More than just a baking schedule

In addition to the new print-ready bakery schedules, more advertising for the Bakery’s fresh items was needed online. Each rotating bakery item was professionally photographed and included in these new posts designed for Instagram stories to create interest, boost marketing, and draw customers in.

example of Tuesday’s schedule in stories

event design | Taste of Guelph

With the Grain’s First event

The Taste of Guelph is an annual event St.Joseph’s Health Centre Foundation holds in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Over 700 vendors are invited annually, including the region’s finest restaurants, caterers, vintners, brewers and bakers. Funds raised through Taste of Guelph go towards purchasing medical equipment and specialized patient care for the health centre.

Because With the Grain had never participated in an event requiring a full booth setup, new designs for properly representing the bakery became a high priority.

Design elements for the event included

Professional Quality Photography

Print-Ready Files, Organised with clear file names, neatly packaged and sent to the appropriate printing service

Professionally styled banner to be showcased at the booth

Newly created handouts designed according to brand guidelines

additional services

Scheduling the printing services directly and ensuring all materials were correct and ready on time

Set up and take down, including all necessary assembly and cleaning, for the event

Professional representation of the bakery, including attire, friendly service, and promotion of services available

Taste of Guelph Event 2022

And now for something completely different…

Cake design

A very fortunate part of my experience at With the Grain was handling most of the consultations for custom cakes. These were scheduled appointments held either by phone or in person to discuss details such as cake flavours, florals, accessories, deliveries, and design styling. To ensure all communication between decorators and customers is clear, consultations often need visual elements to share a specific vision. Often the best course of action is to rely on an illustration to demonstrate. This is where my expertise came in! Each of the illustrations below has been created following very detailed descriptions, directly from real customers at With the Grain Bakery.

Sometimes, I even had the opportunity to decorate the cakes myself! Included below are some of my favourite custom projects that I either designed with clients from start to finish, or completed for an existing order.