How do you create a model that appeals to everybody with out turning into generic? That was the central problem for With out Studio as they partnered with Sodexo to reimagine the meals expertise throughout US school campuses.
The result’s the daring, versatile model platform for One&All, designed to mirror the range of pupil life whereas streamlining operations throughout a billion-dollar enterprise.
For With out, the challenge marks a significant milestone. “This has been one in every of our most complete and systemic tasks,” says Philip Koh, the studio’s technique director. “We needed to steadiness scale and private relevance and do all of it in a means that feels genuine to campus tradition.”
Already working on greater than 350 campuses and feeding over 1,000,000 individuals a day, Sodexo wanted greater than a visible refresh. They wanted a unified id system that would enchantment to Gen Z, accommodate a large spectrum of dietary, cultural and non secular wants, and work throughout lots of of impartial college administrations. With that in thoughts, the studio created a reputation, narrative, and design ecosystem rooted within the thought of “commonality in range.”
Constructed for distinction
The model thought stemmed from subject analysis. Visiting a broad vary of schools – from liberal arts campuses to these with spiritual foundations – With out noticed first-hand how range wasn’t a problem to be solved, however a energy to construct on.
“They had been already serving and holding everybody comfortable,” says Philip. “Our job was to construct a model that mirrored that present energy.”
The technique positions the canteen as greater than a spot to eat by positioning it as a campus stage for distinction and togetherness. “One campus, 1000’s of scholars. One eating corridor, one thing for everybody,” reads the positioning. This ethos knowledgeable every part, from the tone of voice to the operational instruments, setting the model aside in an often-overlooked area.
A collegiate system reimagined
Visually, One&All leans into acquainted collegiate cues, like varsity fonts, daring stripes, and mascot characters, however applies them with a recent edge. The studio created two illustrated mascots, “One” and “All,” because the pleasant faces of the model.
Their personalities are designed to distinction, as One is a delicate, round vegan whereas All is an angular carnivore with a protein obsession. Collectively, they entrance merchandise, signage, digital touchpoints, and social media with light-hearted banter that mirrors the range of opinions discovered on any campus.
“The mascots do heavy lifting,” says Philip. “They bring about heat to what may in any other case really feel institutional, and their fixed disagreement turns into a form of rallying level – a celebration of individuality, not a battle.”
The color palette is one other deft transfer. After auditing present college colors, the workforce settled on a rhubarb pink, a hue that no school had claimed however one which pairs properly with practically every part.
“The color is surprisingly sociable,” says Philip. Supporting shades and textures assist flex the id to match native aesthetics whereas sustaining model consistency.
Typography was additionally chosen to embody distinction: daring, varsity-inspired kind sits alongside expressive script, mirroring Gen Z’s potential to embrace contradictions and nuance. Striped patterns add additional texture, nodding to each deli counters and campus sports activities tradition.
Flexing with function
Whereas the visible system has character, the construction behind it’s rigorously designed for scalability. One&All’s id is constructed on a fixed-and-flex mannequin, with core belongings that stay constant and adaptable frameworks for regional or site-specific variation.
This was important in a sector the place even color selections might be politically loaded, notably when rival faculties are concerned.
From signage and uniforms to digital menus and in-app comms, every part has been designed to be versatile, usable, and rooted in campus life. Even the identify is malleable: some campuses lead with One&All because the grasp model, whereas others place it as a supporting motto (“by One&All, for One&All”) alongside native branding.
Programs pondering, brand-first execution
The deliverables for the challenge exceeded the rules. With out co-developed a full implementation system with Sodexo’s in-house groups, together with operational playbooks, coaching assets, signage methods, and toolkits for meals presentation, service tone, and inside touchpoints.
“We constructed what we name ‘operational translations’,” says Philip. “It wasn’t nearly how the model seems, however the way it behaves — the way it guides a service interplay, or how a eating area feels.”
Workshops and roadmaps helped groups at totally different campuses undertake the model at their very own tempo, creating inner advocacy and making certain a constant expertise throughout places with vastly totally different assets.
Tradition first, commerce follows
“With One&All, With out embraced distinction and turned range into the very factor that brings us collectively,” says Diego Raso, VP of promoting & model administration at Sodexo. “It is change into a benchmark for a way we construct manufacturers.”
Past performance, the challenge marks a shift in how large-scale institutional manufacturers method their audiences. Gen Z is fluent in model tradition and more and more sees meals as an expression of id, ethics and way of life. Branding on this area is not simply ornament, because it exemplifies how function is made seen.
“There is a rising expectation that the place you eat ought to mirror your values,” says Philip. “And standing for one thing is clearly helpful – in a single current challenge, branding an unbranded outlet led to a 27% uplift in sustained gross sales.”
Greater than branding
There isn’t any doubt that With out has confirmed that impartial studios can tackle billion-dollar methods and convey creativity to complexity, not by simplifying it away however by making room for nuance, character, and tradition.
“We’re particularly proud that it is a UK studio constructing a model for American campuses,” Philip provides. “And doing it in a means that places range on the centre, not the perimeters.”
In eating halls from New York to Nebraska, college students may not assume too laborious in regards to the technique behind the signage or the color of their menu. Nonetheless, they are going to see characters who get their references, slogans that echo their conversations, and a model that feels prefer it belongs, not simply on campus however with them.
