McDonald's Signature Crafted Food Typography
The Brief
McDonald's rolled out a Royale experience for their online guest interactions: copy was pulled from consumer tweets and facebook posts to be recreated or reimagined in hand lettered builds and cheeky response gifs celebrating rave reviews of their Signature Sandwich line. The creative team wanted an everyman tone to their social replies, reaching users not as a global conglomerate but a relatable brand with their classic style. Visually I was asked to consider aesthetics from commercials and in-store signage: split screens, rich backgrounds, emoji related work, and atmospheric lighting. I chose to play with visual planes, asking the viewer to forgive top down and profile shots within the same image. Since copy was fixed, I expanded with different typographic treatments so the work felt cohesive but dynamic.
Unlimited, the unofficial McDonald's agency, brought me on to art direct and letter ten images and gifs surrounding their new Signature Sandwiches. I freehanded everything from sauces to cheese slices, relying on my pre-approved food lettering concepts using sandwich ingredients. The work was photographed and styled by the team, retouched by myself, sent out to enthusiastic fans.
Agency // Unlimited
Behind the Scenes
I along with my agent, Ryan Appleton of Satellite Office, spent five days on location with the Unlimited crew in Chicago. We were exposed to an inordinate amount of free fries, and I caved twice at the offer of a midday McFlurry. Coupled with Unlimited's multimedia whiz and bang-up DJ, Mason Adams, we blew through eleven shots. Creative requested different typographic treatments as well as differing lighting scenarios to ensure the series would feel authored by more than one person.
This project went fairly smoothly, and with such a fun team we had to capture the play by play. There were heat guns and dance breaks, even Mason got in on the food lettering action. If creating fun imagery is the meat of these projects with long days and short leads, creating fun is the special sauce.
