Kcal

During our initial research, two core questions emerged:

What is the timeless essence of Kcal’s brand promise?
What is the “job to be done” that Kcal achieves for and alongside its customers?

The first step was to reimagine the core of Kcal. One brand, one byline, one proposition at the core of everything Kcal does across regions, target audiences, and product lines. The latin phrase for this is e pluribus unum – from many to one.

We sought a return to the core, with a visual element that embodies all the essential values of Kcal.

“It quickly became apparent that creating a new shape which could become Kcal’s own and a hallmark for all Kcal projects to come, was the ideal identity keystone.”

— Claus, Art Director, Black CPH

The idea of shape served as the inspiration for the new logo. For Kcal, an icon has the advantage of visibility, strength, recognizability, versatility, and most importantly, uniqueness.

The icon embodies the three ambitions of anyone undergoing a physical transformation. We start life as a metaphorical, unsculpted circle, and the visual element embodies the possibilities of Kcal’s customers to get in shape. For some people, that might mean growing their muscles and extending out of the circle. For others, it means bringing in their waistline, coming in from the circle, and for those maintaining their current shape, perfectly intersecting the circle.

The Wordmark
Kcal’s new wordmark took its inspiration from the icon, with the curve of the ‘k’ in Kcal.

The Dashboard
Inspired by automotive dashboards which have been designed to reveal instant information at a glance, the dashboard on every product prioritises the most important nutritional information, allowing customers to gain instant information and make quick, informed decisions.

With Kcal moving from offline restaurants towards online digital channels, the icon needed to be equally recognizable – at any size.

Applied in the field, the new icon touches every facet of the brand, in giant format across Kcal storefronts, as well as on small-footprint applications as a SoMe icon. The Kcal icon has a simplicity and a symmetry that the brain instantly trusts, making it both recognizable and unique – at any size.

With this new identity, Kcal embodies a new brand promise and a global brand ready to transform people and help them live their best lives.