Clear consuming has had loads of visible tropes through the years – some repetitive and a few a little bit drained – however Cob has arrived within the health-conscious foodie scene with one thing fairly completely different. Created by Saint-Urbain for Cob Meals, the model is backed by entrepreneur Jessica Davidoff and tennis legend Novak Djokovic and places a heat, mid-century spin on the trendy snack aisle.
Collectively they’re taking over the dominance of business corn with a snack created from sorghum, a nutrient-rich grain grown in the USA. The concept began in a really private place: Jessica’s son has a corn allergy, which prompted her to think about a meals model that did not make dietary restrictions really feel limiting.
She wished one thing joyful, and that ambition rapidly resonated with Alex Ostroff, founder and artistic director of Saint-Urbain, who had collaborated along with her earlier than. Their shared aim was to construct a world the place clear consuming would not commerce enjoyable for performance.
Saint-Urbain’s function stretched from naming and technique to visible identification, copywriting, and packaging. The title “Cob,” which comes from the picture of an empty corn cob, set the tone immediately.
It carries a wink of humour, but in addition alerts the model’s stripped-back confidence. The studio used that as the muse for a design language that blends familiarity with freshness with out leaning too closely on nostalgia for its personal sake.
An enormous a part of that world is rooted in Seventies snack packaging and the attraction of retro kitchen graphics.
Fairly than mimic previous cereal containers outright, the group studied their proportions and quirks, then rebuilt them thoughtfully. The customized condensed wordmark was drawn solely by hand, balancing the chunky friendliness of early snack typography with a cleaner, fashionable end.
Color performs a starring function, with sunny yellows and classic lotions nodding to childhood breakfasts, whereas chocolate browns and mushy pastels carry heat and approachability. It is intentionally broad in its enchantment, avoiding the standard pink-for-girls, blue-for-boys divide, and as an alternative inviting anybody to select it up. This palette is bolstered by vectorised stars, bowls, scalloped edges, and different tiny visible cues that make the model really feel lived-in relatively than stylised.
One of many extra playful touches is the “floating popped sorghum” sample. The actual product is small – surprisingly small – which allowed Saint-Urbain to work at precise scale with out overwhelming the packaging.
“They’re tiny – like M&M Minis in comparison with common M&Ms – so we might float them round at precise dimension with out cluttering the design,” says Ostroff. “It ended up being a kind of uncommon design moments the place the product’s scale labored in our favour.”
You actually choose up that sense of optimism working by way of the entire system, which is typically lacking from ‘better-for-you’ manufacturers. As a rule, you see manufacturers on this class default to medical whites or muted, earthy minimalism, whereas Cob leans into pleasure and flavour.
It is comfy being vivid and enjoyable. Crucially, it embraces what it’s relatively than fixating on what it avoids.
Djokovic, Davidoff, and Saint-Urbain got down to create a meals model that feels good in each sense, and what they’ve achieved is one thing pure, indulgent, nostalgic, and modern all of sudden. Considerate design actually could be the important thing to reframing clear consuming as one thing individuals genuinely look ahead to relatively than one thing they’re compelled to do.
