Robot Food celebrates the best of Yorkshire produce with Harewood Food and Drink Project

The Harewood Estate, situated between Leeds and Harrogate, is known for its rich history and the expansive grounds around Harewood House. Now, the Harewood Food and Drink Project has launched as a new collaborative initiative that partners with local makers to produce delicious, artisanal products using fresh ingredients found on the estate.

Written By: Laura Connelly

6 December 2017

Leeds-based creative design agency, Robot Food, was asked to develop the brand and take the lead on its positioning, naming, identity creation and packaging design.

With grounds abundant in natural resources, the family behind the Harewood Estate since 1738 had not only spotted an opportunity to leverage its lesser-known legacy for food production, but to champion the best the local Yorkshire community had to offer.

Robot Food’s task was to create a confident brand inspired by the history and heritage of the land and to communicate it in a way that is relevant to a contemporary audience who are passionate about home-grown produce.

The nature of the Harewood Food and Drink Project means that the outcome of each collaboration has the potential to be different and so Robot Food needed to consider everything and anything; from spirits, ales and meats to pop-ups and dining experiences.

The team’s strategy was two-fold, the first step being to create a distinct brand mark that anchored the project and could be applied consistently across a breadth of deliverables. Next, the team established an eclectic illustrative style that both complemented the simplicity of the brand mark and allowed enough flexibility to change from product to product, depending on ingredient, story and collaboration.

The result is a cool, contemporary design that foregoes an expected, stuffy farm shop aesthetic and challenges perceptions of a privately owned rural estate for a brand that is bold, expressive and reflective of the project itself.

Martin Widdowfield, Creative Director at Robot Food, said: “There’s so much more to the Harewood Food and Drink Project than the end result. For us, the design needed to celebrate the family, their partnerships, their land and communicate their unique story. It’s great to work with global brands, but we feel equally excited to work so closely with someone local doing something so different. Can’t wait to see what comes next.”