We caught up with the creatives at our design studio, Will and Claudio, who together make Midday and our illustrator, George to find out about how they approached the big task of rebranding our look. Because we’re nosy also we couldn’t miss the opportunity to find out about their morning routines and favourite snacks. We hope you enjoy our interview on everything from their creative thought processes to proudest achievements with the snack.

Real Handful: How did you approach the task of rebranding our look?

Midday: We started with the name, which is awesome. After fully immersing ourselves in the brand and completely understanding your product we unearthed the brands inherent Unruliness. With the “unruly flavour” design essence we set about redesigning the entire brand look with a totally hand-drawn and unrestricted look. We then collaborated with the surreal imagination of George(s) who brought his own style of Unruliness to the refreshed brand.

George: I began by trusting Midday’s concepts and following their approach. Overall, we were all having fun on a nice  brand with funny people.

Real Handful: Which elements of Real Handful’s brand personality did you want to highlight and how did you go about doing this?

Midday: Unruliness. We do it at every opportunity.

George: Same, no rule is the rule (that’s also the key for my happiness in life).

Real Handful: What is about the rebrand that you think helps it stand out on shelf?

Midday: The bold and surreal look. It creates intrigue.

Our Go Go Goji ingredients illustrated by George

George: I would agree, the bold and impactful design of Midday combined with the amazing selection of colours help it to stand out from the rest of products

Real Handful: Can you tell us about the biggest challenges you faced during our redesign and how you overcame them?

Midday: As with all our brands a change can be unnerving. We overcame this through good communication and collective desire to create something new and impactful.

George: On my side, it was challenging to find creative, communicative yet simple characters to reflect the unruly aspect of the brand and clever names that Midday had come up with. Their funny product names bring to life stories beyond the image, so the illustration combined with the text works like a sequence. Also creating a pithy illustration was a challenge, but one that I love the most.

Real Handful: How did you come up with the characters on pack? What was the creative process behind this?

Our Strawberry Stomp

Midday: The characters can’t exist without a name so this is where we start every time. From this point its about working together with George(s) to go beyond what’s expected to create surprising, witty and even confusing characters with the ability to grow beyond pack.

George: Indeed, Midday gave me a bunch of names, sometimes several options per product. From there, I sketched the rest of the ideas that came to my mind from the options. Sometimes the first idea was the one that stuck, other times we conducted a kind of creative brainstorm to see what came to mind, in order to create the perfect and clear mix of unruly inspirations.

Real Handful: Now the redesign is out in the wild, what would you say you’re proudest of?

Midday: Consistency. With a brand so unruly and free, the trick is to retain a certain amount of consistency that allows the consumers to navigate the ranges. This, along with the impact on shelf is what we are proudest of with Real Handful.

George: I totally agree. It’s even more than consistency for me; it’s how each character on pack reacts and communicates with the others on shelf. They became, from my point of view, a bunch of friends, each having their own personality. And that’s something really joyful and satisfying.

Real Handful: We think of them as a bunch of friends too! Now for some more fun questions to let our snackers know about you outside of Real Handful:

Real Handful: How do you stay curious, creative and inspired?

Midday: We make space to play. In the studio we encourage our designers to take the time to get inspired and work in ways that suit them best.

George: There is no proper rule, I just try to stay open to everything that comes to me. Everyday I try to talk with people from other professional backgrounds, watch some documentaries about subjects I’m not familiar with, go to places I’ve never been before, experiment with techniques, tools and things I’ve never done before.

Real Handful: What does your morning routine look like?

Midday: Wake. Wash. Commute. Coffee.

Morning essentials

George: Wake up at 7am. Wash. Go kayaking or simply walk to the studio. Coffee and croissant with podcast. Work work work work work.

Real Handful: What snack can’t you live without? (Apart from Real Handful)

Midday: A Caravan coffee (sorry, not technically snack)

George: Gaspacho, not a snack neither but I can’t live without Gaspacho (or palet bretons).

Thanks guys, although they are some rather odd snack choices, we loved hearing from you both!