OUGD502 - A Design Strategy: Robot Food

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"Robot Food was started in a dining room in Harrogate, in January 2009, by Simon & Mike who met and became friends while studying art & design at college. 

The vision was to grow a brand, known for passion, innovation, service, style and results.
Now based in the impressive Grade II Tower Works development, in Leeds city centre, we have an expanding creative team and work with clients all over the world. 

We know how to create demand and that’s why we’re going strong today."

Robot Food was a design company I came across when looking for designers in Leeds which I would like to get some influence from work, have a visit and potentially get a placement.

I really like the aesthetic values that is common in all of their work. Everything they do seems very clean, friendly, but all are very clearly for different audiences. Their use of colour, type and illustration was what initially drew me in.

You can really see how creative and established they are through their rebrands of already existing companies. It shows how they have taken something and remoulded it to bring it completely up to date and much more appealing.

I will definitely be interested in visiting the studio and talking to the designers. While their main focus seems to be on packaging, they do a lot of other design work on top of this and around this, from branding to creating interior spaces.

The work below is some that I particularly liked, and show off a lot of their design areas.

Kings Biltong
Set up by three ex-England rugby playing brothers, Kings Biltong make dried, sliced beef in delicious flavours. Lean and packed with protein, Biltong is great for athletes. Where it lagged behind was in visual appeal. We strengthened the flavour cues, kicked the branding into touch, and put the pack communication through its paces for an altogether beefier brand expression.

Sous Chef

Sous Chef are the go-to people for the serious home chef. An ecommerce company, they sell specialist ingredients, gadgets and other kitchen items usually sold in bulk to caterers. We gave them a sharp, clean, functional design with pro appeal for the amateur chef. As well as branding and packaging, we also designed the website layout and corporate stationery.

The York Roast Co.

This was a meaty project. As well as the identity, packaging, uniforms and POS, we redesigned the shop interior and developed the menus (with a chef friend) – introducing the ‘Beastly’ specials and other delights such as filled Yorkshire puds. With more than pork on the menu, their old name, York Hogroast, had to go. So we gave them a new name and strapline as well.

OUGD502 - A Design Strategy: Mash Creative

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Mash Creative is a single Graphic Designer, Mark Bloom, based in London, UK. He specialises in brand & identity, and works with clients of a variety of sizes. He is the author of two design books.

I found the work by Mash Creative on Behance.

I really like the work as there is a very consistent style throughout all the designs, but they are all very clearly intended for different audiences and different client. There is a clear attention to colour through all the work, which is something I like to see in design.

Something I have found interesting about the work is that all of them use sans serif typefaces as apposed to serif typefaces. This is something that I commonly do myself so I did like to see that there are other designers working in the industry that are clearly getting projects where this is alright to do and keep doing. I also like the fact that there is a variety of work, each with a clear individual response where  the concept and context has been thought about.

The work below is some of the work that I particularly like in Mash Creative's portfolio.

15 Years/115 Projects

"15/115 (15 Years,115 Projects) is my second book and features 115 projects spanning a 15 year career to date, divided into three chapters: 15 x Posters, 80 x Logos and 25 x Case studies. The book also features a foreword from renowned designer, blogger and author David Airey."

TVC Group - Branding

"The TVC stationery set boasts 5 colours including 3 neon inks, the business cards are printed on duplexed card and include a debossed logo. Custom compliment slips and address labels allow the user to highlight a compliment or message with a highlighter pen."

Utopia DJ School

"I created the brand identity for summer DJ school ‘Utopia’ offering professional courses in and around Europe. The identity was used on a large number of deliverables including T-shirts, Lanyards, Banners, iPhone Wallpapers and more."

Gazing At Design Museum

"Design Museum approached Mash Creative to design a flyer to promote their new café ‘Grazing’. Utilising the central line theme created by Spin, the flyer allows the recipient to cut along the dotted line and present a voucher to receive a free hot drink voucher. The front of the flyer uses a simple line illustration to depict food on the left and hot drinks on the right. The reverse side features a voucher which when cut still maintains the hot drink image on the front. Digitally printed in white ink on 350gsm GFSmith Colorplan Bright Red, Purple, turquoise and Factory Yellow."

Curious Space

"An adaptive identity, stationery set and responsive website for the London based scenographers. Curious Space create unique and inspiring spaces for museums, galleries and more. The identity splits apart to create a physical space that intrigues whilst the type can sit either horizontally or vertically in numerous layouts within the dotted grid. This playful logo allows for a truly flexible yet structured brand identity which can be easily applied to all Curious Space communications. Business cards printed in fluorescent and grey ink with blind debossed grid pattern to the logo on the reverse side. The letterhead features a perforation allowing the user to tear off the top strip to be used as a compliment slip or address label. Identity design in collaboration with Andy Cooke. Website design and build in collaboration with Socio Design & Mayfield Digital."

OUGD502 - A Design Strategy: Cast Iron Design

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The Cast Iron Design Company is co-owned by founders Richard Roche and Jonathan Black. They met in design school and soon realized they had a natural chemistry along with complementary skillsets. Not long after graduating they put their heads together and started a design company.

"We're committed to Environmental Responsibility" 

"We Believe Green Design" 

"Doesn't need to be stuffy & serious or equate to inflated production costs"

Cast Iron Design is a company that I came across quite randomly. While their work isn't the kind that I create or usually would use as influence, I do think that there are a few pieces of work which really are interesting to me.

Something that I hadn't come across up to this point was a design company that was really interesting in Green Design and having an environmental responsibility, and clearly showing it in their work. A lot of their work is also produced by hand, and done to a very high quality and standard.

Below is some of their work which I particularly like, and show the design skills of the company.

Bookmarks - self initiated
We letterpressed these bookmarks using paper scraps from poster trimmings and makeready. They're printed using leftover ink and are included in orders from our general store.

Letterpress Print
An art print celebrating all things letterpress, from composing sticks to ink cans.
A limited edition, two-color (light blue, gray), 12″×16″ letterpress print on 160lb, 100% PCW recycled double-thick cover stock.

Jack Sinclair Letterpress Studio

To celebrate the opening of the lab, the University held a grand opening celebration. We designed an invitation in addition to various print materials for the event. Needless to say, everything was letterpressed.
We designed a unique format for the invitation to minimize paper use and designed bookmarks that made use of paper waste. We also spec'd responsibly made paper whenever possible.

Seniortech

This project included developing a identity and a website with job board functionality. The client wanted to keep it clean and simple in order to be accessible for the target audience, senior citizens.