Year:

Summer 2018 - Internship MG2

Categories:

Branding - EGD - Production

Brief:

Develop a brand following current food trends for the international retail conference.

Collaboration:

This project was a collaborative effort with designer and architect Alexander Moss. We worked closely together with my focus on brand development and applications.

Solution:

By taking one of Japan’s most famous street foods and combining it with popular cultural phenomenon, we developed a a unique dining experience that is engaging, quick, and memorable.

Inspired by one of the foods main ingredients, octopus, the brand wants to excite passerby’s with a bright and enticing aesthetic and be an accessible delight to everyone.

1. Inspiration:

Gachapon [ガチャポン] are vending machine-dispensed capsule toys popular in Japan and elsewhere. By nature they are “blind purchases” as what is within the capsule will vary. They are usually miniature figurines of popular franchises and characters.

Takoyaki [たこ焼き] is a savory and sweet ball-shaped Japanese snack made of a wheat flour-based batter and cooked in a special molded pan. Typically filled with octopus (tako) and topped with tempura, pickled ginger, green onion, and a sauce.

2. Branding:

The O manages to reference the round nature of the food, serve as a repeating background graphic, appear as an expressive emoji-like face, and even become suckers for the octopus tentacle that would become commonplace in the visuals. The frame with rounded corners is reminiscent of traditional takoyaki pans and acts as a container, holding the elements together.

3. Applications:

4. Environmental Design:

We planned for this to be an out of the ordinary experience that gets people talking and coming back for quick and delicious food. Alex and I worked together to create a unique structure that works with the branding and has the ability to easily deconstruct and relocate.

Customer Journey:

1. Intrigue:

The brand and container are designed to be both sleek and playful to invoke curiosity.

2. Decision:

A unique menu of fried food, all served in typical takoyaki presentation.

3. Ordering:

The customer marks their choice on a reusable sheet. They confirm with the employee and are given a token.

4. Gochapon:

While waiting for their order, the user can use their token at the gochapon machine on the side of the container, receiving a random and memorable toy.

5. Pick-Up:

The customer order is called from the window or pinged on their phone if preferred. Delivered in a stylish recycle friendly box with chopsticks.

6. Enjoy:

A sense of surprise with each bite, in a similar fashion to the toys random outcome you don’t know which of your selections you’ll get until you bite in!