Hall of Flowers, the country’s premier cannabis tradeshow located just north of San Francisco, wrapped up its second-ever conference, with over 250 California brands showcasing their wares. The floors were buzzing with excitement, and probably some body highs, although samples didn’t get handed out, for better or worse.
Instead, what we saw was a representation of just how far cannabis has come culturally – celebrities, LinkedIn powerhouses (here’s looking at you Gary V), investment bankers, mommy bloggers, farmers, creatives and the stereotypical stoner all intermingling, collectively raising the conversation, and the bar, of cannabis.
The industry feels a lot like craft beer, with everyone churning out similar products and formats and yet it’s the stories told through design that separate the highlights from the lows, no pun intended.
Here are our 13 favorite brands from the show.
A beautiful brand built for the social high, it’s light THC and high CBD formula make for a well-balanced experience, or as they say, “more fuck yeah and less oh, fuck.” The visual identity of the brand centers around the hexagon, from the lush blue box every vape pen comes in, to the hexagonal vape pen itself. With a focus on female consumers, the entire look and feel bring out our inner-MOMA lover.
Creativity, Curiosity and Wonder.
These are the core tenants of Sonder, perhaps the most evocative of all the cannabis brands seen at Hall of Flowers. It’s indulgent, and the more-is-more aesthetic inspired by the free love and wonder of the 70s comes with typefaces exploding with character, and playful compositions and cheeky copywriting that tickle the mystic or vintage-lovers of society.
Few brands at Hall Of Flowers had the show-stopping power of PCG, which harnessed the incredible power of neon purples set against lush, black backgrounds. This purveyor of flower and other cannabis formats elicits both trust and excitement simultaneously.
Aster Farms
From sunup to sundown, Aster Farms is ushering in a unique, sustainable cannabis brand that is Japanese-minimalism, Brooklyn-chic and California-conscious at the same time. They’ve designed a unique identity system around strains and function with packaging depicting a sun on the front, and moon on the back.
Juna
Juna is a cannabis and hemp collection crafted in California to optimize pleasure be it physically, spiritually or even gastronomically. But, for our purposes here, we’ll focus on the obvious visual delights – a sleek, industrial yet quirky wordmark floats atop a beautifully muted and earthy background tied to its plant origin with a cool blue-grey for cannabis and earthen green for hemp.
ROAM
Roam, a line of THC vape pens, is both expressive and restrained, creating a world around the brand’s promise of wanderlust. Products names are Bali Bliss, Rio Soul, Paris Night and NYC Hustle. Their tagline, “Escape Fuel,” perfectly balances the promise of breaking away while seeking out new experiences.
Welcome to art meets science. What makes Olo different from other cannabis brands is their use of “applied biochemistry and neuroscience to build something extraordinary.” Their aesthetic as a result, is both clinical and expressive, using an O monogram that shifts with colored gradients for various functions.
Clayborne Co
The Red Wing and Harley Davidson of cannabis, Clayborne is built by hardworking people with hardworking plants. To attract the craftsmen in all of us, they utilize a retro-inspired, blue-collar look and feel, manifested in an eagle icon—because what’s more freeing than a bald eagle and a little weed?
Select
The Vitamin Water of cannabis, Select uses a no-frills, clarity-is-king approach with pops of color to create an incredible every-man-and-womans brand. Better still, their design system removes the hurdles of uncertainty and intimidation many people when partaking in cannabis for the first time.
Bad Apple
Bad Apple is built around the intriguing positioning of “Resistance.” According to their site, when they say resistance, they “mean it as a call to start uncovering everything about you and the world you want to bring into the light.” They reflect this unique POV in an elegant, mono-weight demigod like figure reminding us that it’s good to be a bad apple.
Good Flower
Built by the employees of upscale brand Canndescent, Good was created to be accessible to everyone. Colorful, easy-going and straight-forward, they’ve built a world we can feel, well, pretty, pretty, pretty good about.
Kurvana
Kurvana sits at the nexus of nirvana and Kannabis (see what I did there with K? Okay, I’ll stop now). The brand’s belief of transparency, accountability, and professionalism in the cannabis industry lead to a wonderfully nothing-to-hide, cosmetic-inspired aesthetic.
Sunday Goods
Sunday Goods put the lightheartedness, sunshine and optimism of recreation with millennials favorite recreational substance – cannabis. Built to feel like the Outdoor Voices of cannabis, Sunday Goods branding, design, and activation leaves you feeling pleasant and calm, much like the power of the plant itself.
