Illustrator / brand designer for a bagel brand with a retro, neo-brutalist cartoon look
About Mook's Bagels I'm starting a bagel company called Mook's Bagels. Right now the plan is farmers' markets, and if it goes well I want to open a real shop down the line. I'm a web developer (but love to cook/bake on the side), so I can find my way around Figma without a problem. I actually designed our current deli paper myself and I'm happy with it. What I can't do is the illustration and the real creative side, and that is exactly what I'm hiring for. One thing to keep in mind as you read this: everything here is my initial idea, not a locked spec. I'm a developer, not a designer, so if you see a stronger direction than what I've laid out, I want to hear it. I'm hiring you for the creative instinct I don't have, so feel free to push back on any of it. I'm splitting this into two phases. This post is phase one, the core brand. If we work well together there is a bigger phase two with a lot more illustration, which I describe at the bottom. The look I want Retro cartoon, a little neo-brutalist. Picture a friendly cartoon bagel with big eyes and that vintage but modern feel. I'll attach a reference sheet I put together (mascot poses, expressions, a rig breakdown) along with my deli paper so you can see where my head is at. The colors I'm using are a deep cobalt blue (around #0F2A97), a cream (#FCEDCF), and a warm orange. I'm open to you tightening those up. The logo My main idea is a "MOOK'S" wordmark where the two O's are bagels. I want those bagels actually illustrated, not just circles. If you have a stronger take, pitch it, but that is the direction I keep coming back to. A cartoon bagel character with big eyes as a mascot is also fair game, either alongside the wordmark or worked into it. What I need in phase one - The primary logo (the "MOOK'S" wordmark with illustrated bagel O's) plus the usual variants: horizontal, stacked, an icon or submark, and a one-color version. All vector. - A circular illustrated piece made to sit in the middle of a packaged bagel, right over the hole. The logo arched around the top, with a bagel or food illustration in the brand style. This one is meant to be the everyday sticker that goes on every bagel, so it is brand art, not a specific flavor yet. - Brand guidelines I can actually use day to day: logo do's and don'ts, color values, type styles, and notes on how the illustration style works so it stays consistent later. - One finalized square deli paper layout. I already have a version I like, so this is about refining and locking it, not starting over. - A type system: font picks with the licensing details, set up as styles. How I want it handed off - Final files in Figma, organized, with components and color and text styles, so I can build on it myself. Vector exports (SVG or AI) welcome too. - No AI generated artwork. Phase two (later, separate budget, only if phase one goes well) Once the style and the circular template are locked, I'll want a full set of flavor stickers built on top of it. Eight bagel flavors and six cream cheeses, each with its own illustration in the brand style (for example, jalapeños and melted cheddar on the jalapeño cheddar one). That is its own scope and its own budget. If you put a per-illustration rate in your proposal, I can plan around it. Timeline No big rush, but I want to get moving. I'd expect this is roughly a week of work for the right person. Please include in your proposal - Links to your work, especially hand drawn mascots, characters, or food illustration. - A yes that you will hand off organized, editable Figma files. - A yes that the work is fully human with no AI, and that you will share sketches along the way. - Your per-illustration rate for the phase two flavor work.