After being diagnosed with Lupus, Caragh Keane created Superkeen, the UK’s first Auto-Immune Friendly food brand focused on anti-inflammatory diets. Partnering with B&B Studio, its new identity features unique design elements and a mascot, Cloud Guy, to promote a sense of ease and inclusivity for all ages.
When Caragh Keane was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition called Lupus in 2021, she was daunted by the idea of a life of avoiding the sun, taking immunosuppressants and potentially having chemotherapy. At 25, she was experiencing extreme joint pain and alopecia and had painful blisters all over her face and body.
Keane put everything into researching to get better, which is when she discovered the vital link between diet and gut health and started seeing positive signs when eating in the most anti-inflammatory and gut-friendly way possible. From this, an inclusive food brand called Superkeen was born, the UK’s first Auto-Immune Friendly (AIP) brand.
B&B Studio has experience partnering with ambitious founders to help them build brands from scratch, and the design team enjoys creating brave, unique brands that connect emotionally. The project encompassed brand positioning, creative strategy, brand naming and all elements of brand design and packaging.
“We were really inspired by Caragh’s positivity, enthusiasm, and ambition”, says B&B Studio head of strategy Lisa Desforges. “Following her own experience with the Auto Immune Protocol (AIP) way of eating following a diagnosis of autoimmune disease, lupus, she has an impressive depth of knowledge and experience which she brought to the product and her vision for the brand.”
The studio worked with Keane to develop a clever name for the brand, which plays on the founder’s surname and conveys both positivity and enthusiasm.
According to Desforges, understanding people’s emotional relationship with food and how people with autoimmune issues or allergies can feel “a real sense of fear and anxiety towards food” was key to getting the brand right. To reassure consumers that Superkeen is good for their insides, B&B Studio developed the brand idea ‘Make Friends With Food’, which Desforges says “inspires a sense of trust, support and community”.
It is also flexible and inclusive enough to be relevant to all “health seekers” who want to avoid inflammatory foods, not just those with allergies. “This was the ambition from the beginning, and the brand needed to feel desirable and inclusive so that it attracted all consumers”, says Desforges.
Moreover, Superkeen needed to appeal to all ages, from kids to grown-ups, so B&B Studio created the character of Cloud Guy. The mascot was designed to represent the feeling of being free from inflammation.
Desforges describes him as “calm, floaty, and laidback” and explains how he embodies “a feeling of chill, lightness, and ease, which is the antithesis of inflammation”. Cloud Guy also has a crew of allergen-inspired characters, all of whom are fun enough to be child-friendly but also have a simple style and witty characterisation that connect with an adult audience.
Rounded forms are something of a motif across Superkeen’s brand world, further reinforcing its gut-calming qualities. “From graphic shapes to physical materials, the brand is characterised by rounded forms, curved edges, and soft textures – all combining to exude an anti-inflammatory feel throughout the brand world,” says Desforges.
B&B Studio designed a bespoke all-caps wordmark for the brand, with an arch that brings “craft and quality”, she adds. For the colour palette, the studio went with a bold, positive pink that differentiates it from contemporary challengers, while a suite of flavour-inspired shades makes up the secondary palette.
Initially, Superkeen will launch as a direct-to-consumer brand. So, the packaging design needed to stand out clearly across the brand’s digital touchpoints and integrate seamlessly with wider lifestyle imagery. “In addition to packaging, it was key that we created a brand with a depth of visual and verbal elements that would allow it to communicate with audiences in different ways, both online and in physical spaces”, says Desforges.
