The brief was to name, brand, design the packaging, and promote a new pie making company that specialises in producing best quality traditional British pies that reflect the spirit of the nation’s rich culinary diversity.
To tackle this brief I decided to focus on pies that could be distinctly British yet also reflect an issue of social responsibility. I did this by facing the recently much discussed issue of food waste. According to an article written for the Independent (May, 2008) Britain throws away £10bn of food every year, a problem that clearly needs addressing, however because of the currently heightened media attention on sustainability and waste, consumers are becoming more aware about what they purchase and the importance of embracing change.
Due to this I spotted a niche market for pies that use the the whole of the vegetable and the whole of the animal which meant some of the recipes would be quite unusual. Nevertheless as evidence suggests people are becoming more open minded about the unusual recipes with top chefs like Jimmy Doherty, Fergus Henderson and Jennifer Mclagan strongly supporting the cause.
In order to brand a pie with the more controversial parts of the animal I researched psychologist Paul Rozin’s writings on ‘food for thought’ who touched on many interesting points of why a large amount of people find eating offal off putting, one of which was “anything that reminds us that we are animals elicits disgust”. This led me to believe that I cannot brand my pies in a shocking way, shocking people will not get them to buy the pies, it will in the most part put people off, I can not dig far enough into the psyche with branding to change such a rooted opinion. This led me to take a subtle stance on branding, using vintage style illustrations on the packaging rather that in your face photography, I have also tried to promote the brand with emphasis on little waste and trying new things rather that immediately advertising the offal in the pies so that hopefully people will buy and try the pies, then grow to trust the brand.
Due to this I spotted a niche market for pies that use the the whole of the vegetable and the whole of the animal which meant some of the recipes would be quite unusual. Nevertheless as evidence suggests people are becoming more open minded about the unusual recipes with top chefs like Jimmy Doherty, Fergus Henderson and Jennifer Mclagan strongly supporting the cause.
In order to brand a pie with the more controversial parts of the animal I researched psychologist Paul Rozin’s writings on ‘food for thought’ who touched on many interesting points of why a large amount of people find eating offal off putting, one of which was “anything that reminds us that we are animals elicits disgust”. This led me to believe that I cannot brand my pies in a shocking way, shocking people will not get them to buy the pies, it will in the most part put people off, I can not dig far enough into the psyche with branding to change such a rooted opinion. This led me to take a subtle stance on branding, using vintage style illustrations on the packaging rather that in your face photography, I have also tried to promote the brand with emphasis on little waste and trying new things rather that immediately advertising the offal in the pies so that hopefully people will buy and try the pies, then grow to trust the brand.
I developed my own illustrations for the labels using a tradition line style similar to those illustrations found in old books and newspapers.
Here are the examples of the animal/vegetable skins printed on the wax paper around the pies. I believe that having this additional subtle nod towards using the whole animal really supports the brand in a positive way, that would not put those who are squeamish off but would be appreciated by those who believe in the philosophy from which the brand stems.
I have designed a set of posters that link back to the vintage British theme of the brand. I have used illustrations from traditional British war time posters (where thrift and minimal waste was at the forefront).
A vintage feel using bright colours to keep the brand modern and fresh.
