The Yococo Visual Story

Yococo is a black-owned, dairy-free ice cream brand. Owner, Sine Ndlela has done an amazing job with the brand's visual identity and images overall. I reached out to her to share her story and best tips to help you on your way with *your* business. Check out my services to see how we can work together too bring your story to life with words and ideas.

All images in this story are courtesy of Yococo.

How did you find your branding happy place? Did you know from the beginning how you wanted things to look (the logo, the tubs, etc)

I knew what the look and feel should be and at first, I didn't follow that, I sort of just jumped in and realised that woah this isn't what I wanted and how I saw this was when I was discussing packaging with someone. The words coming out of my mouth and the actual brand I was seeing in front of me didn't correlate so I changed my approach.

What's your product images creation process?

 I like to keep it delicious and simple so its easy for me to let my creative juices flow from there. I think about a picture and I usually get inspired, I don't really plan.

What were your key learnings while setting up your visual photography situation?

 Things like the type of lighting I want to be reflected on the pictures matter, so I need to decide what time I shoot. Things like the editing style need to stay the same to maintain a consistent look and feel. Planning is important though when you are feeling creative go all out for days when you don't feel like it.

How does your customer inform the visual content you create for Yococo?

 My customers on Instagram need something different from the ones on Twitter, I don't know if I can say they inform the content as per say all I know is they want to see delicious content and they want to see what they can expect to have when they finally get some ice cream.

Did you have a vision/plan for how you wanted to use social media to push the business forward? How has it changed?

 Yes, I did my friend Modjadji Mashatola helped me and I often refer back to the plan to make sure everything is still on the right track.

Tell me more about your photography service for other small businesses -- (At R400 an hour, Sinenhlanhle helps other small business owners create visuals for their businesses.)

I realised that it's a bit expensive to get someone to do your pictures then people end up with dodgy-looking pictures or they use stock images, which doesn't really reflect their real products.

 So that's where I come in I try to help you use your products to sell themselves visually.

What are your two tips for a small business owner for creating product and brand imagery and using social media?

I think you need to know why you are doing everything don't just do. Think of your brand as a person, what are they like, who is their friends, what do they stand for etc. Then work from there to have an identity.

Visit the Yococo website to find out how to order and follow Yococo on Instagram and Twitter to stay in touch and find out where they'll be popping up next.