How illustration could possibly be meals branding’s tastiest ingredient
Splashed across packaging or animated on social, food brands’ use of playful, abstract illustration makes a welcome change from glistening ‘food porn’ photography
Traditionally, cheery characters like Tony the Tiger or the Jolly Green Giant have been the faces of the marriage of illustration and food branding – or at least the most recognisable ones. Obviously, illustration has played an integral role in branding for food products since the nascence of packaging design: the Yorkshire Dales rolling across the county’s eponymous tea brand’s boxes, for instance, or the iconic toucan telling us that Guinness is ‘good for you’.
But in today’s ever-competitive food brand landscape, the role of illustration has shifted beyond leaning on twee or traditional cues and has become an integral part of the brand world. And since these assets have to work just as hard online as on the front of cereal boxes and so on, there are ever-evolving considerations for the designers and branding agencies that want to use them.
Sharebite branding by Landscape, illustration by Jaedo Lee