The Dinner Ladies
The concept of “dinner ladies” in England doesn’t always evoke the most pleasant associations – for many, it brings back memories of school lunches with portions of gray, barely warm slop unceremoniously dumped onto a plate; something related to turkey in the shape of dinosaurs; and people who, while diligently doing their job, often looked exhausted, filling school canteens with the smell of pudding and casserole from 11 a.m.
However, the term “dinner ladies” can mean something much more positive. The Australian frozen meal delivery service The Dinner Ladies started in the garage of one of its founders in Sydney and aims to ease the chaos that often accompanies family dinners. Since its humble beginnings, the brand has grown into “Australia’s hottest frozen meal service,” according to the New South Wales-based creative agency Universal Favourite, which recently updated the company’s visual identity.
Having been around for 17 years, the brand was due for a refresh to reflect its growth and address the dilution of its visual identity, which had lost its sharpness and needed a powerful reinvention.
The studio took on virtually everything related to the ready-to-eat meal brand, including verbal and visual identity, tone of voice, packaging design, art direction, photography, website development, and video. To do this, the team conducted in-depth research into the brand’s history, looking at everything from old website versions to logos hand-drawn on envelopes and visiting the very garage where it all began.
From this exploration, they cherry-picked the strongest elements of the brand’s history and updated them, creating a unique, confident, and cohesive image, style, and voice.
At the heart of the rebranding is, well, a heart. Previously, it had a somewhat outdated tattoo-style look, but now, through the separation of the heart symbol and the text logo, the identity appears fresher and more versatile across various applications.
Illustrator Jake Foreman was commissioned to create the new graphic element in his distinctive style, which is textured and slightly vintage, while still feeling contemporary. The illustrations not only tell a story but also serve important functional roles, adding originality to the brand.
The color palette retained the red hue from the former branding but was adjusted to support the new dynamic identity. The combination of bold, warm yet muted colors creates harmony and allows the illustrations to take center stage.
The main logo for The Dinner Ladies features a richly inky, fluid script serif, while the supporting text is set in a bolder, more structured Denim typeface by Displaay Type Foundry from Prague. This combination strikes a balance between bold headlines and a friendlier tone for subheadings and body text.
Throughout the branding, The Dinner Ladies’ unique personality shines through, from the logo to the playful yet confident copywriting.
It’s particularly refreshing to see a genuinely original illustration style that stands out amidst modern trends, where sharp skater-like lines or bold pops of color dominate. The woodcut-style aesthetic used for The Dinner Ladies not only feels original but is perfectly suited to a brand that wants to avoid clichés, highlight the quality of its products, and stand out in a competitive meal delivery market. And, of course, it just looks really beautiful.
