New Brand & Branding for Omlet by Ragged Edge — BP&O

We’re undeniably in an age of pet care 2.0: the post-fur-baby period, the place individuals are lastly starting to see their animals’ wants and needs as unbiased to their very own (i.e. dried pigs ears over vegan canine treats, eschewing leads for cats, and so forth).

These shifts in how we take into consideration what it means to have and take care of animals have precipitated additional shifts in pet care branding. Issues have moved on from practical pack designs and inventory pictures, and from its extra premiumised counterpart, the types of merchandise that look extra suited to the women’ bogs in a West London restaurant than a West Highland terrier.

However with a wider and extra saturated market, manufacturers are having to work more durable than ever to distinguish themselves from each other; and we’re seeing a raft of nice designs and considerate commissioning throughout branded illustration, pictures, video, animation, and extra.

One of many strongest examples of forward-thinking, revolutionary, enjoyable, and above all, cute, initiatives is that this work for Omlet by  Ragged Edge. The London-based consultancy labored throughout the worldwide rebrand for Omlet, partnering with the model to overtake its whole technique and branding, working throughout Omlet’s positioning, visible and verbal identification to assist its merchandise attain a world viewers and ‘problem the established order on a world degree’.

Omlet was based in 2004 by 4 former product design college students at London’s Royal School of Arts, the place they created the prototype for the Eglu – a revolutionary sort of rooster coop that’s impressed – as with all Omlet merchandise – ‘by the magic when people and animals join’, in line with the model. The Eglu has now bought over 150,000 items world wide.

The place Omlet units itself aside from different manufacturers is its method to product design: ‘we watch, be taught, ask and invent’, as Omlet places it. This implies its vary relies on animals’ wants, slightly than the ‘assumptions’ of people who take care of them, and innovating on merchandise primarily based on findings from finding out pet behaviour.

This ethos of fixed questioning, and seeing issues by means of the eyes of pets slightly than house owners, knowledgeable the ‘massive artistic thought’ Ragged Edge recognized for Omlet – ‘a world of surprise for pets’, which is basically expressed by means of a collection of sensible tactile 3D illustrations and cute characters.

‘The pet product class is filled with stuff designed for people – wendy-house rooster coops and toys that appear like quick meals. We’ve projected ourselves onto pets as a substitute of designing for them,’ explains Max Ottignon, Ragged Edge co-founder. Omlet takes the other method, ranging from scratch to design options for pets, not folks. Each product they create goals to deepen the connection between pets and their house owners.

Following a brand new spherical of funding, Omlet needed the brand new branding to assist its enlargement globally, and we are able to’t see how this work wouldn’t: it’s eye-catching, versatile, and regardless of the intense colors and expansive solid of characters, the identification maintains a way of readability. The web site, as an example, is an enormous enchancment on the earlier iteration: it’s brilliant, easy and boasts intuitive navigation and clear categorisation.

The brand new branding is centred on a 3D illustration-led method impressed by product design prototypes. Ragged Edge commissioned Holly Szczypka to create the illustrations, selecting her work that’s to the actual fact it’s ‘filled with wit’ and tactility, in addition to providing a extremely distinctive aesthetic that immediately references the merchandise themselves.

Animator Adam Garbutt then introduced the illustrations to life for movement functions, additional underscoring the concept of Omlet embracing the extra humorous sides and ‘imperfections’ of how we work together with pets.

For the brand new wordmark, Ragged Edge opted to benefit from Omlet’s present model fairness by redrawing it in a approach that retains a lot of its former design. Sure options have turn out to be extra exaggerated, such because the redrawn ‘O’ which has turn out to be extra egg-shaped, in a pleasant tongue-in-cheek self-referential nod.

The general aesthetic of the letterforms appears to be like to align extra with the Omlet merchandise’ design language, and Ragged Edge made some glorious font decisions to intensify that even additional. The company opted for Hammer Daring by Zurich-based sort foundry Out Of The Darkish because of it feeling ‘satisfyingly strong and sturdy’; whereas the supporting font is Swiss foundry Grilli Kind’s GT Maru Mono, chosen for its ‘boilerplate really feel’. Lastly, the physique copy is Prague-based Displaay foundry’s Fellix, chosen for its mixture of heat and simple legibility.

There’s no denying how merely, brilliantly cute Omlet’s new identification is. And whereas some corners would possibly argue that its unabashed adorableness undersells the merchandise’ rigorous, distinctive design credentials, we’d argue that right here, the 2 sides aren’t in opposition of one another, however in assist of either side. Cute doesn’t imply fluffy, however it could; likewise nice industrial design needn’t be completely po-faced to show its value. With rigorous, thought of branding work like Ragged Edge’s for Omlet; hopefully we’ll solely be seeing extra of that concept of co-existence slightly than dichotomy in future.