Rebrand of Murray’s Cheese ages New York cheese seller for the better

It’s interesting to see a brand literally age in front of your eyes. Not, as the rest of us do, slowly racking up years over a lifetime, but all at once. We see this in Murray’s Cheese, a US brand debuting a new logo from Base Design (as part of a wider rebranding and web design refurbish).

For the wordmark, swirly script has been swapped for Colophon’s Brick Pro, a serif that quite clearly suggests a cheese shop that has sat as a staple in Greenwich Village for decades. But the real magic trick is the addition of “est. 1962” to the logo; with two simple words, suddenly Murray’s Cheese becomes recognisable, respected and comfy.

A few heritage brands have been in the dog house recently for hacking up historic elements of their packaging in rebranding efforts – our US editor-at-large explores the challenge of working with nostalgia here. On the flip side, you have an example of it done right with Murray’s Cheese; Base Design has introduced considerable changes to the identity, all in favour of underlining history for a new context.

“The brand approached us as they were in the process of expanding their operations – growing not only in NYC, but also digitally and across the country in Kroger stores nationwide, transitioning the brand to include a national customer base,” says Jeffrey Waldman, senior design director at Base. “The brief was essentially how to refresh the identity of this iconic and treasured New York staple to a larger audience, while ensuring that its authenticity and credibility carried through this shift.”

The signature colour of Murray’s Cheese is a good example of how this was done on a micro level. It was crucial the red be retained for customer recognition, but soft creamy secondary colours, drawing from the hues found in cheese, have been introduced to suggest evolution. “It even calls to mind a rich, waxy red rind that we see on cheeses like gouda or red leicester, paired with its pale, creamy interior tint,” says Jeffrey.

Illustrations from Christine Van Wassenhove are now used to show Murray’s offerings beyond cheese (classes, gifting, etc.) The playful illustrations meant Base could move beyond classic product photography and denote these wider brand elements in a less literal manner. The busy typographic texture, meanwhile, is inspired by the idea of pairing. Colophon’s Mabry acts as the functional sans-serif pair to Brick Pro, while Vulf Mono and Kestrel Script function as “garnishes”, as Base puts it.

The work for Murray’s Cheese first began as a website overhaul, with the local shop experience translated into e-commerce. The online shop is built to work like a guide, with features designed to help both seasoned customers and newcomers alike. The wider brand relaunch, which came later, follows the same concept; rather than solely uplifting the cheese (which, of course, is still elevated in the design), human touch has been identified as a key differentiator. It’s another example of the history of the establishment being leveraged correctly; this time, of its storied history as a local shop running out of Greenwich Village since the 60s.