Mrs. Johnson's Bakery
Roles
Art Direction; Branding; Typography;
Environmental Graphics; Publication Design
About Mrs. Johnson's Bakery
Mrs. Johnson’s Bakery was born in 1948 by Howard, Henry, and Helen Johnson in honor of their mother, Hilda Johnson. Mrs. Johnson’s was an Austin staple to other bakeries during its last years because they opened at 7 PM to serve doughnuts until 9 AM, rather than in the morning. By 2021, the bakery had lived in its original location on Airport Boulevard for over 75 years. The pandemic and late-night hours made it difficult to stay open. Customers would regularly arrive during posted hours of operation to find the bakery closed most days, eventually resulting in an official closure by 2022.
The current building is bare and has no identity for the rich family history inside, along with its ties to generations in the city. I wanted to add personality and bring life back into the brand through my identity design using vintage comic-style characters, script type, and other design elements reminiscent of your grandmother’s secret baking recipes. For the environmental rebrand, I wanted to take advantage of the darkness and add neon lighting along with low-cost structural materials to inspire a re-opening.
During my research, I traced the Johnson family lineage online and uncovered a handful of family photos, documents, and recordings of the bakery during peak operation in the 1960s. When I found the time to expand the brand and use the family artifacts, it made the project a more significant personal investment than anticipated, but well worth it. Now I live only 5 minutes from the bakery and still get late-night cravings for the only jelly-filled doughnut I got to experience on a lucky night they were open. Even though the actual location has turned off the lights, at least I can return to this project and imagine what it could be.
