Ceylon Harvest Co.

A 3,000-year-old tradition, presented with modern premium confidence.

Consumer Brands Brand Identity

The finished identity: a botanical seal built entirely from the plants and spices Ceylon Harvest Co. actually exports.

Part One The Challenge

Where I came in: the client's own concept. The client couldn't say what was wrong with it, only that it wasn't quite right.

Competitor and inspiration research: Dilmah, Burlap and Barrel, King Arthur Baking, Druera and other spice and tea export brands

Mapping the field: how Dilmah, Burlap & Barrel and other export-grade spice brands actually present themselves.

“Like discovering something rare. Ancient. Trustworthy. Not tourist.” The client's own words, describing what the client's first attempt was missing

The client's logo used a sun face inside a seal, captioned "Live. Long. Rich." The drawing wasn't the issue. A sun is a universal symbol. It says optimism and warmth for a resort or a suncream just as easily as it does for a 3,000-year-old spice trade. It couldn't say Sri Lanka, and it couldn't say ancient. Naming that problem set the direction: move the mark from the sky to the soil.

First sketches: replacing the sun with tea leaves, black pepper, cinnamon and vanilla under a new name, Ceylon Harvest.

Working notes: choosing between two names, and listing exactly why the client's own attempt hadn't landed.

Mood words describing the brief, ancient, trustworthy, quiet, not exotic, heritage authority, alongside first sketches of cinnamon, pepper, cardamom, vanilla and tea leaves, and an early circular seal layout

Turning the client's own words into a brief: ancient, trustworthy, quiet, not touristy. Then sketching straight from that list, ingredient by ingredient, toward a circular seal.

Part Two The Solution

Every plant went through the same process: reference photo, essential silhouette, flat single-colour redraw. I repeated this for all eight ingredients in the final seal.

Assembly logic: wordmark ring plus botanical cluster, arranged into a single wreath.

Before and after: from a universal sun motif to a mark that could only belong to Sri Lanka.

Anatomy of the Botanical Mark detailing trace ingredients

The finished mark's anatomy, traced ingredient by ingredient.

Heritage Green, Raw Parchment, Cinnamon Bark, and Cracked Pepper, pulled from the spices themselves, not a stock "premium" palette.

“We speak with quiet confidence. Our language is precise, factual, and grounded in expertise; never ornamental, never borrowed from the tourism playbook.”

Typographic Hierarchy showcasing Baskerville and Poppins

Baskerville Old Face for history and weight, paired with Poppins for functional, modern packaging copy.

Ceylon Harvest Co. final seal shown in both colourways, cream-on-green and white-on-orange

The final seal, in the two colourways used across packaging and stationery.

In Use Applications

The seal as a wax-style stamp, testing whether the mark still reads once it loses colour and gets pressed into paper.

Ceylon Harvest Co. natural canvas tote bag with botanical pattern

The botanical pattern, printed across a canvas tote.

Ceylon Harvest Co. Cardamom paper tube packaging with gold lid

The system on shelf: cardamom, in a paper tube with a gold lid.

Business Card In progress

The stationery suite is next up, not yet photographed.

Letterhead In progress

For the same reason, space is held rather than skipped.

Ceylon Harvest Co. is a premium Sri Lankan export brand selling Ceylon cinnamon, black pepper, and traditional spices, traceable to source and built for global trade. I worked on this project solo, from the first sketch through to the packaging on shelf.

The client arrived with a logo the client had already designed and a feeling that something was off, though the client couldn't quite say what. What the client could describe was the feeling the client wanted instead: quiet, powerful, like discovering something rare. Ancient. Trustworthy. Not exotic, not touristy.

The client's mark used a sun face inside a seal, captioned "Live. Long. Rich." The drawing wasn't the problem. A sun is simply a universal symbol. It says optimism and warmth for a resort or a suncream just as easily as for a spice trade. It couldn't say Sri Lanka, and it couldn't say ancient. Naming that gave the direction: move the mark from the sky to the soil.

The client also wanted the mark to stay minimal, but carry real weight and story, two things that don't naturally sit together. Research into the competitive set (Dilmah, Burlap & Barrel, and similar export brands) confirmed the client's real buyers are trade buyers, who barely pause on a logo. They scan for origin, authenticity, and proof of quality. The seal needed to signal all three instantly, without decoration.

I replaced the sun with what the brand actually exports: Ceylon cinnamon, black pepper, cardamom, chilli, cloves, tea leaves, coffee, and vanilla, arranged into a wreath, with the wordmark and the motto "Pure Heritage. Naturally Sri Lankan." set around the outer ring. I also pushed the name toward "Ceylon Harvest Co." over the client's other option, "Ceylon Botanical Spice Co." Harvest reads like an export house with a supply chain behind it; Botanical Spice Co. reads like a boutique shelf label.

Baskerville Old Face carries the weight of history; Poppins keeps packaging copy and digital use functional. The palette (Heritage Green, Raw Parchment, Cinnamon Bark, and Cracked Pepper) comes from the spices themselves, not a generic "premium brand" palette.

The system now runs across tea tins, spice tubes, tote bags, and a wax-style stamp. A business card, letterhead, and a multi-SKU label sheet are next. I've left space for them rather than pretend the system is more finished than it is.

If I revisited this today, I'd push for the full stationery suite earlier, instead of treating packaging as the finish line. I'd also test the seal at very small sizes before finalising it, as a mark this detailed needs a simplified fallback for anywhere it has to work under 20mm.

Client

Yohan Udahawaththa

Ceylon Harvest Co.

Office

Homebased

Sector

Brand Identity

Discipline

Branding & Strategy

Project team

Chatura Dissanayake

Collaborators

None