Hello, and welcome to Studio Snack — a monthly food podcast about design. February is well known as the month of love and that is what inspired our new epode.
Love hearts
Did you know that Love Hearts sweets, first emerged in the UK not for Valentine’s Day but for Christmas crackers? And they started in Canning Town, just down the road from where we record our podcast.
This month we speak about Valentines and the heart shape, an ideograph: a symbol that expresses an idea. There are many origin stories: some say the shape first appeared in a 13th-century French manuscript, others claim it was once a stylized pear (yes, a pear!). The design we know now evolved in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, eventually popping up on playing cards by the late 15th century.
And it’s definitely made its mark in many logos like Habitat or AirB&B but any designer would think about I Love NY, designed by Milton Glaser in 1976. Our WhatsApp interview with creative director and fashion entrepreneur Leticia Credidio, who trained under Glaser gives us some very nice insights.
Rose Experiments
Because roses are a classic Valentine’s motif, our brief was to create a rose.
Narcis tried to mimic Doritos roses by cutting red paper triangles and spiraling them into a rose shape.
But as he wanted to do it with a snack, he used a Babybel.
Lydia played with overlapping transparent heart shapes for a flat graphic.
Another was a repeat pattern, where the negative spaces were kite-shaped, an accidental discovery that we loved.
She also made a 3D rose out of newspaper, to find beauty in a troubled world.
The Sound Experiment
We’re still on the hunt for the perfect snack-inspired jingle, so stay tuned for updates in the snack bites post coming soon!