Stay’d

Meal delivery service is nothing new. You place an order, get fresh ingredients delivered to your doorstep, and then you take on the role of chef. But, just imagine if all of the work was done for you and all you had to do was sit back and relish restaurant-quality food from the comfort of your home with your loved ones.

Enter Stay’d.

Maadaadizi Investments created an innovative meal delivery service concept that brings thoughtfully curated meals to your front door and frees customers from the nuisance of meal preparation and hosting. To help take their concept to the next level, they came to Nice Branding Agency, the restaurant branding experts.

project type

Logo Design, Restaurant Branding

Meal Delivery Branding Project Kickoff

Our meal delivery branding creative process begins with a discovery session.

We have the client complete a Creative Questionnaire to assist with educating our team on the project. We then use those answers and our jottings from previous conversations to brief our branding team prior to them starting work on the project.

Naming

Our first challenge? Naming the service.

Every single one of our team members took time to dig deep into the goals, history, positioning, and the “why” of the business independently. From that research, they brainstormed a variety of potential names.

After this, we came together to share our name ideas. After discussing the pros and cons of each name, we eliminated options that weren’t strong enough to serve as the first word in the brand’s story.

These names that remained were backed by stealth reason and research. The names left were: “staid / stay’d,” “the red hex,”and “fed”.

The first option, “Staid” or “Stay’d”, referred to the idea of staying home. It can draw up thoughts of date night in or an intimate meal shared with friends and family. “Staid” suggests steadiness, a sense of dignified respect, and elevates the brand. Whereas, “Stay’d” has a modern yet, youthful mood. For either choice, there was an undertone of familiarity, convenience, and consistency.

The second option, “The Red Hex”, spoke to a collective state through a symbol we all recognize: A stop sign. We’re all constantly immersed in the hustle and bustle of life and there’s no guilt in stopping and letting someone else take the wheel for a while. Also, the color red is bold and decisive. The word “hex” has an air of magic within it. There’s a certain attraction to the name which is fitting of the act of ordering in.

For the last option, we presented the name “fed”. Food and entertainment delivered. This acronym evokes certainty. We are explicitly who we say we are. The name is memorable, the past tense of a word we’ve grown up with. It’s strong: the word itself has only positive associations. Design-wise, it works well in a logomark and also fits seamlessly into brand messaging.

After presenting these options, our client chose “Stay’d” due to the positive feelings it conjured and how it echoed their vision for the brand.

The Starter Pack | Meal Delivery Branding

After we completed the Naming process, The Starter Pack was up next.

To start that process, we create two options for the brand which include a mood board, logo design, brand color palette, brand fonts, and supporting brand icons. From here, the client picks one option and this then becomes the foundation for their brand.

Design Direction Brainstorm

Upon having a good understanding of their business goals, location, target marketing, offerings, and competitive differentiators, we flushed out two brand concepts, each with its own exclusive look and feel.

The first brand had a retro, vintage feel and put emphasis on the comfort of being at home with your loved ones. The second brand featured more vibrant colors and fun, flavorful energy.

We’ll delve into the details below. Keep reading to find out which option came out on top.

First Brand Concept Development

Brand one has the more vintage vibe of the two.

Overall, the aesthetic centers around the warmth of being at home. The pleasure of Sunday supper with friends and family. You can almost hear the laughter paired with the sound of clinking glassware.

It’s reminiscent of the good ol’ days prior to cell phones when you would enjoy every bite, read the paper, and be fully present in the conversation. With this ideal, Stay’d bring friends, fellowship, and good food to the table.

Mood Board

The Start Pack package starts with the formation of a six-image mood board that communicates the overall aesthetic of the brand.

For the first concept, we chose photography that displays modern-day experiences but in a retro-inspired space to align with the brand.

Meal Delivery Branding Logo Concept #1

For this logo, we landed on a friendly serif face that’s easy to read and comfortable to digest. We designed the apostrophe to double as a speech bubble as well.

We wanted this speech bubble to represent the companionship and conversation that take place over good food. This icon can also be carried throughout the branding to drive home this conversation piece of the brand.

The speech bubble can also double as a comma if flipped which indicates a pause.

Brand Colors

This brand direction features colors that are classic, comfortable, and reminiscent of some that you may have seen in a vintage kitchen.

Brand Fonts

As previously mentioned, we landed on a friendly serif face for the logo that was easy to read and comfortable to digest.

Supporting Icons

To pair with the classic retro feel of the brand, we developed complementary supporting logos. You will notice that we brought the speech bubble apostrophe into these supporting logos as well. With a variety of supporting logos, they can each represent separate markets while still maintaining the recognizability of Stay’d as a brand.

This speech bubble apostrophe could also stand on its own as an icon.

Second Brand Concept Development | Meal Delivery Branding

For brand two, the overall aesthetic is fun, creative, and flavorful. We wanted this concept to acquire the energy and sounds of laughter between family and friends as they’re coming together around the dinner table.