The hamburger is an American icon. It conjures associations with all-American diners and drive-thrus, backyard cookouts and family gatherings; American values, such as entrepreneurship, as well as less positive attributes of Western countries, like obesity. The burger’s visual identity is inseparable from its history and has been solidified time and time again as the big fast food franchises conquered the...
Water masquerading as an edgelord-baiting energy drink (Blackletter fonts, skulls, and a name straight out of the heavy rock canon); running shoes aping a chesty cough remedy; olive oil bottles that owe more to the science lab than the Mediterranean. Packaging at the moment, it seems, is frequently playing fancy dress. That’s no bad thing, of course: brands borrowing aesthetics...
Global strategy, branding, packaging, and graphic design studio Mucho created this colourful new identity for coffee tech startup BrewBird, working with Scottish artist Craig Black. Mucho was appointed to create a new brand identity and ‘memorable’ packaging system to help BrewBird communicate its story around uniting cutting-edge tech, taste, and ‘the artisanal craft of coffee roasters’. According to Mucho, drip...
There’s nothing more human than food says Nyati Gupta, CEO and Co-founder Fork & Good. However, the first place people in more temperate regions will feel the effect of climate change will be on their plate. ‘To be able to eat your favourite dishes without the environmental impact, that would be the dream’. Although vegetarianism and veganism have made it to...
Triboro worked on its first restaurant branding project over a decade ago, at a time when the folklore was that if you were a restaurant serving traditional food the visual language should evoke the region and time period of the cuisine. This was intuitive and, as Triboro founder David Heasty recounts, led to some well-crafted and beautiful results but often leaned...
Agricultural practices are constantly changing to provide greater crop yields. In an effort to achieve this goal, modern farming has created a host of ecological side effects. Most notably, overconsumption of water and a reliance on chemical fertilisers, GMOs and pesticides. Plenty is an indoor vertical farm providing green produce to the masses through sustainable practices, using less space and...
New products, new markets and new consumer groups generate new aesthetics – or, at least, you would hope so. Too often, style migrates from one category to another, or the identity of a sub-culture (visually speaking), is exploited in a commercial context. This is where ‘authenticity’ emerges, to support genuine origin credentials, or to mask the appropriation with narrative context....
Tacos are a Mexican staple, consisting of a small hand-sized corn or wheat-based tortilla topped with a range of fillings. They make for perfect on-the-go food, packed full of flavour. This combination of convenience (quick to make or eat) and tastiness has seen the traditional dish rise in popularity as an ideal product to package and sell in many markets....
In case you’ve missed it, low and no-alcohol drinks are a thing. With over 20% of adults in the UK claiming to be teetotal, abstinence is cool: Brewdog is now Punk AF (that’s ‘alcohol free’), Thomson & Scott’s Noughty is (fairly) nice, and Seedlip is sexy. This sobriety revolution is driven, in part, by the mindfully sceptical Gen Z, turned...
The balance of power in the US isn’t decided in Washington. It’s decided in state capitols where Republicans have gained overwhelming control, asserting systematic bias on voting rights and election processes. Through policies of suppression and gerrymandering, certain priorities and populations are often neglected in election results. Forward Majority is a political action committee on a mission to accelerate Democratic...
American industrial designers Ray and Charles Eames fundamentally believed that good design should be available to everybody. It’s ironic, therefore, that today – in part due to institutional bodies, galleries, collectors and capitalism – their work has been elevated far beyond the reach of the common person. Design that was supposed to be accessible has become a symbol of taste,...
In 1984, the death of the wrestler Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta – commonly known as El Santo – sent shockwaves through Mexico. Over the course of five decades and 15,000 matches, the legendary fighter had captivated audiences, helping to fuel the growth of Lucha Libre around the world. Through his appearances in film, comic books and cartoons, he established himself as...