Mashed brings a tasty approach to cooking, encouraging their followers to revolutionise their recipes, throw the rules out the window + to get creative in the kitchen. To other designers, my palette could be deemed as controversial, but I live my life questioning normality.
08/07/2020
Mashed
Bristol, United Kingdom
UI Design
Sketch
Traditionally most designers are reluctant to associate food brands with the colour blue, as there is a common misconception that it is unappetising + unnatural. This has since been disproved by countless successful brands such as; Oreos, Dominos, Greggs, Co-op, Pepsi, Jamie Oliver’s Website, Tasty (Youtube Channel), Pizza Express, Carluccio’s, Denone + many more. Dominos is one of the most recognisable fast-food chains in the world + by utilising blue they created a contrast from their competitors allowing them to stand out in a sea of red fast-food chains.
Furthermore blue is abundant in nature + actually has more hues than any other colour to the human eye. In fact, this palette is solely inspired by the colours of the sky, water + plants, with the purpose to complement the food photography by setting them amongst neutral tones. The ubiquitousness of green + blue in the natural world evidently implies they can successfully pair with the many colours which surround them. After all - every flower has a green leaf.
The expression “blue next to green should never be seen” is an absolutely ridiculous statement coined by sailors in the 1600s who believed it was bad luck to put the two together. With regards to colour theory, it couldn’t be more wrong as the positions on the colour wheel would create an analogous combination. This is where three colours compliment each other based on their sequentiality on a 12-part colour wheel, such as yellow, green, + blue.
If you would like to read more about colour theory please check out this blog post:
change your perception of colour theory
The demographic for this brand is hipsters aged between 27-35 who are interested in alternative cooking, which gave me as the designer a chance to go wild, have some fun + visually translate this energy into a unique user interface. Down to the title font choice which literally looks ‘Mashed’ - the feeling of liquidity is supposed to transport the user into a new dimension of cooking. Food is great for content because with the right photography a web page can be made to look edible, playing not only with the mind of the user but their stomach too. I want a user to leave this page hungry, ready to follow some videos + cook up the recipes which Mashed provides.