Braise your game: Koto studio’s delicious guides aim to demystify branding

The world of branding can sometimes feel like an exclusive restaurant, where all the best tables are reserved for people in-the-know, or those who can afford the steep costs. Enter Seasoned: an open kitchen inviting creatives to pull up a seat and learn from designers that have been cooking up brands for years. Created by London’s Koto Studio, the digital hub is designed to help students and emerging creatives get a foot in the door through interactive guides inspired by the bold, no-nonsense style of cookbooks from the 70s and 80s.

“We wanted to create a resource that supports and guides, which led to the idea of a ‘recipe’ for branding,” say Sienna Mark-Brown and Dylan Young, senior designers at Koto. The team, who initiated Seasoned as a passion project outside of client work, were immediately excited by the parallels, and plentiful puns, between designing and cooking. “We wanted to bring some joy to a space that can sometimes feel a little stuffy, and hopefully that’s reflected in the digital experience – challenging conventions of what an educational resource should look like with moments of surprise and delight.”

Adding personality to the identity was important. The team achieved this through contradictions. An earthy 70s-inspired palette is combined with candy-coloured gradients, for example, and a bold custom typeface with a refined script. Playful interactive elements house informational content, as well as archival cooking footage alongside new photography.The motion design also echoes visual quirks that were common in the 70s, like lo-fi grain and slower frame rates. All of this, with a generous sprinkling of “not taking ourselves too seriously”.

The website is now live, serving up its first two cookbooks: Start with Strategy and The Power of Good Ideas. “These mirror our process at Koto – beginning with strategy before diving into ideation,” they explain. Still hungry? Don’t worry, there’s plenty more to come. Koto Studio plans to release more cookbooks, and hopes to expand into portfolio reviews, lectures, mentorship schemes, and more – continuing its mission to break down barriers and make the industry more transparent.