Who is Too Tall Toad?
Too Tall, known to his family as Bradley, was born in a small pond in the middle of a vineyard in the North Georgia mountains. Bradley had developed a certain – and peculiar – taste for the grapes that grew on the vines around his pond. It is believed that this was the reason for his unnaturally tall stature by the time he reached adolescence. This is how he came to be called Too Tall – oh did I also mention he is a toad?
Too Tall Toad has grown to become something of a legend among the wine growing community in North Georgia. In fact, his proof of the numerous health benefits of grapes has gone on to inspire the launching of Too Tall Toad’s Grapeseed Oil Company.
Why Grapeseed Oil?
Grapeseed oil is highly regarded among experts to be one of the healthiest and most versatile cooking oils in the world. One prominent characteristic is that it has the highest smoke point (467°f). An oil’s smoke point is the temperature at which the oil begins to smoke and take on a bitter, burnt taste – which adversely effects the food being prepared in it.
Grapeseed oil’s greatest strength is in its nutritional and healthful characteristics. Grapeseed oil is very high in the antioxidant Vitamin E, which make the oil very stable and gives it long shelf life – without the need for refrigeration. It also has among the lowest levels of saturated fat and highest in the essential fatty acids, Omega-6 and Omega-9. Grapeseed oil has been shown to help lower the levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol and raise the HDL (good) cholesterol in as little as 3 weeks (based on a healthy diet, including 1 Tbls per day of grapeseed oil along with a healthy exercise routine). These are just a few of the benefits of grapeseed oil in a healthy diet.
Too Tall Toad’s Grapeseed Oil is produced from a variety of wine grapes as well as from Muscadine grape seeds. Muscadine grapes had earned a reputation of containing some of the highest concentrations of antioxidants of any variety of grapes. Georgia is home to one of the largest Muscadine growing regions in the world. All of our products are produced to the highest standards in the industry, using a state-of-the-art cold press extraction process.
Where is the Too Tall Toad’s Grapeseed Oil Company?
Too Tall Toad’s Grapeseed Oil Company is a Georgia based company, nestled in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Georgia. This idyllic location, with the clean air, fresh mountain spring water, and a close proximity to some of the southeast’s finest wine vineyards makes this the ideal location for the producers of the finest quality grapeseed oil available.
Truth be told, Too Tall Toad’s exists only in the mind of one certain graphic designer who was looking to fulfill his required course of study at The Art Institute of Atlanta. This recipe book, the oil, the bottles, the labels, the gift box containing a selection of four bottles of oil and a recipe book containing 42 fabulous recipes. There is also a specially designed point-of-purchase display. These are all part of a senior design project.
The information about grapeseed oil is accurate. The recipes are real (real good). They were compiled by Damon Atkinson, all painstakingly selected, the images are from these recipes, cooked and photographed by Damon. The identity system and branding standards – all Damon.
What about the brand?
Pretty cool, huh? While I was conducting my research into the world of grapeseed oils, and cooking oils in general, I noticed a sad and disturbing fact – almost all cooking oil labels are BORING! They all blend together in a lackadaisical, uninspiring way. However, the labels on wine bottles? WOW! These are fun, exciting, full of creativity. Grapeseed oil is made from the same grapes that become wine, so why subject them to the mundane mediocrity of the other cooking oils?
With this goal in mind, along with the decision that this company would be based in Georgia, I set out to create a name. Everything in North Georgia seems to be named after 1) animals – i.e. eagle, wolf, fox, crane, frog or, 2) geographical features – mountain, valley, ridge, creek, or the ever popular ferry. The more creative names take something from category 1 and tie it to something from category 2, like; crane creek, eagles ferry, wolf mountain. Well, toads came along from an obscure observance of category 1. As the name grew, it became Two Tall Toads which eventually morphed into Too Tall Toad’s grapeseed oil. The rest is, as they say, legend.
In developing the identity for Too Tall Toad’s, I had two very defined goals in mind. The first was that this was to be a Georgia based company that recovers grape seeds from area wineries and grape juice producers. The second was that the identity would be more indicative of wine producers than cooking oil producers.
Once the identity was established I began to create the supportive collateral that was to promote the company and show the application of the logo. First of all I created the company’s stationery suite, business card, letterhead and envelope. The main features of the project consisted of the labels for the line of flavored grapeseed oils and a promotional recipe book.
The recipe book includes 42 delicious and nutritious dishes all featuring Too Tall Toad’s grapeseed oil. Each of the recipes was compiled and modified by me, all of the food shown was prepared and photographed by me (oh, and eaten by me – with the help of several friends).
Rounding out this project was the design and creation of a point of purchase display intended to display six bottles of flavored grapeseed oil as well as the recipe book.
The stand is constructed of 1/8″ acrylic that has been laser cut and engraved. The display prominently features a large engraved logo on the face of the display.(Be sure to inquire about laser engraving, cutting and etching options.)
