There has never been more awareness of allergens and inflammatory ingredients, with lupins and sulphites now on the mainstream radar alongside common culprits like gluten and dairy. At the same time, nostalgia and anemoia (‘a feeling of yearning for a past that you never experienced’) have become driving forces shaping contemporary tastes.
人们对过敏原和炎症成分的认识从未如此之高，羽扇豆和亚硫酸盐现在与麸质和乳制品等常见罪魁祸首一起成为主流关注点。与此同时，怀旧和厌恶（“对从未经历过的过去的渴望”）已成为塑造当代品味的驱动力。

Direct-to-consumer cereals neatly bridge a gap in this market, offering healthier, nutrient-dense alternatives to childhood favourites – fun, but increasingly also ‘free-from…’ . In fact, the cereal segment is expected to be the fastest growing category in global breakfast foods, predicted to expand from $398 billion in 2020 to $729 billion by 2030. That’s a lot of crunchy nut-free cornflakes.
直接面向消费者的谷物巧妙地弥合了这个市场的空白，为童年最喜欢的食物提供更健康、营养丰富的替代品——有趣，但越来越“不含......”。事实上，谷物领域预计将成为全球早餐食品中增长最快的类别，预计将从 2020 年的 3980 亿美元增长到 2030 年的 7290 亿美元。那是很多松脆的无坚果玉米片。

Caragh Keane founded the gut-friendly cereal company Superkeen because of her own experience with lupus. The brand seeks to support an ‘anti-inflammatory lifestyle’, catering to those on an auto-immune protocol diet, those avoiding allergens, and those simply looking for a ‘cleaner’ breakfast staple. ‘Superkeen is the most inclusive food brand in the UK’, the brand claims online in its mission statement.
Caragh Keane 创立了对肠道有益的谷物公司 Superkeen，因为她自己有患狼疮的经历。该品牌旨在支持“抗炎生活方式”，迎合那些接受自身免疫方案饮食的人、避免过敏原的人以及那些只是寻找“更清洁”早餐主食的人。“Superkeen 是英国最具包容性的食品品牌”，该品牌在其使命宣言中在线声称。

Hero ingredients include cassava, tiger nuts (which aren’t actually nuts, but in fact little tubers), date syrup, coconut oil and sugar, while gluten, dairy, seed oils and nuts are avoided. The current product lineup includes ‘The Original’ (‘deliciously sweet baked cereal’), ‘Cocoa Crisp’ and ‘Cinnamon’, sold in 300g packages. This past April, Superkeen’s recipes won an innovation award at the Natural & Organic Food Expo 2024, so they must be doing something right.
主要成分包括木薯、老虎坚果（实际上不是坚果，但实际上是小块茎）、枣糖浆、椰子油和糖，而避免使用麸质、乳制品、种子油和坚果。目前的产品系列包括 'The Original' （“美味甜美的烤麦片”）、“可可酥”和“肉桂”，以 300 克包装出售。今年四月，Superkeen的食谱在2024年天然与有机食品博览会上赢得了创新奖，所以他们一定在做正确的事情。

To create a brand to match the recipes, multidisciplinary London-based creative studio, B&B, was entrusted with developing Superkeen’s brand strategy, naming, copywriting, visual identity, packaging design, web design and brand world. The studio opted to convey the sense of being inflammation-free with an anthropomorphic mascot named ‘Cloud Guy’, notable for his rounded graphics and soft, curved textures.
为了创建一个与食谱相匹配的品牌，总部位于伦敦的跨学科创意工作室 B&B 受托开发 Superkeen 的品牌战略、命名、文案、视觉识别、包装设计、网页设计和品牌世界。该工作室选择通过一个名为“Cloud Guy”的拟人化吉祥物来传达无炎症的感觉，该吉祥物以其圆润的图形和柔软的弯曲纹理而闻名。

While ‘Cloud Guy’ is the hero in this story, representing lightness and relief, other characters in the Superkeen universe are benevolent fiends standing in for excluding ingredients and the negative emotions gut discomfort might cause. ‘Gluten’ is a loaf of sandwich bread with a vacant stare and jutted-out tongue. ‘Nut’ is a peanut holding a bindle while frowning. Seed Oil is a smirking sunflower, while Dairy is a cowboy.
虽然“Cloud Guy”是这个故事中的英雄，代表着轻盈和解脱，但 Superkeen 宇宙中的其他角色是仁慈的恶魔，他们排斥成分和肠道不适可能引起的负面情绪。“麸质”是一条三明治面包，凝视着空洞的眼睛和突出的舌头。“Nut”是一颗皱着眉头拿着束缚的花生。Seed Oil 是一朵傻笑的向日葵，而 Dairy 是一朵牛仔。

These characters illustrations are drawn in a naive sketch style; the width of the lines and curves is uneven, as if drawn with a fountain pen, or with a pencil that’s getting progressively blunter. Subtle shading has a markedly hand-drawn feel too – it’s not too refined, yet adds dimension – while the limbs evoke ‘rubberhouse animation’ aesthetics with their wobbly, soft curves.
这些人物插图以天真的素描风格绘制;线条和曲线的宽度不均匀，就像用钢笔画的，或者用越来越生硬的铅笔画的。微妙的阴影也具有明显的手绘感觉——它不太精致，但增加了维度——而四肢则以其摇晃、柔和的曲线唤起了“橡胶屋动画”的美感。

Meanwhile, B&B studio also designed a bespoke all-caps wordmark for the brand, in an arch to frame Cloud Guy. The effect is playful, but not trivial. Alongside this, the colour palette feels both timely and nostalgic, consisting of periwinkle purple, a soft coral, a highly saturated yellow and a bubblegum pink. They align closely with some of Pantone’s recent Colours of the Year, such as 2022’s Very Peri, 2021’s Illuminating and 2019’s Living Coral – which is interesting to observe.
同时，B&B 工作室还为该品牌设计了一个定制的全大写字标，以拱形框住 Cloud Guy。效果是俏皮的，但并非微不足道。除此之外，调色板感觉既及时又怀旧，由长春花紫色、软珊瑚色、高度饱和的黄色和泡泡糖粉色组成。它们与 Pantone 最近的一些年度色彩密切相关，例如 2022 年的 Very Peri、2021 年的 Illuminating 和 2019 年的 Living Coral——观察起来很有趣。

The selection of bright saturated hues can also be strongly associated with childhood, especially when paired with comfort food. Competitors such as Magic Spoon, Surreal, and Crispy Fantasy employ a similar approach to colour, but while they lean into a groovy, psychedelic aesthetic, Superkeen brings about feelings of cosiness and familiarity. In terms of visuals, it shares the most similarities with Off Limits, which stands out for its original characters designed with an intricate use of linework.
选择明亮饱和的色调也可能与童年密切相关，尤其是与舒适的食物搭配时。Magic Spoon、Surreal 和 Crispy Fantasy 等竞争对手采用了类似的色彩方法，但虽然它们倾向于时髦、迷幻的美学，但 Superkeen 带来了舒适和熟悉的感觉。在视觉效果方面，它与Off Limits 的相似之处最多，后者以其原始角色和复杂的线条设计而脱颖而出。

It’s clear that in a short space of time this new cereal category has developed its own category codes, which Superkeen exemplifies with a charming and slick brand system. But is there space on the shelf for all these products and their mascots, or will one cartoon character ascend to capture our hearts? Only time will tell.
很明显，在很短的时间内，这个新的谷物品类已经发展出了自己的品类代码，Superkeen 以迷人而流畅的品牌系统为例。但是，货架上是否有空间容纳所有这些产品及其吉祥物，或者一个卡通人物会崛起俘获我们的心？只有时间会证明一切。