Cooking Up Change: How UnitedUs transformed Prept's identity to inspire a new generation through food

The majority of identity projects look to achieve things like helping a product stand out against competitors or on supermarket shelves, updating or streamlining a brand that's lost its way, or attracting new audiences to a product. However, some have far more grandiose objectives, like this new identity for Prept, which aims to both serve "the foundations of food culture in the UK" and inspire "a new generation through food, to live happier and healthier lives".

It's no mean feat, but it is a challenge that branding agency UnitedUs rose to in its work for Prept – the educational charity previously known as Table Talk Foundation – for which it crafted a new name, visual identity and verbal identity to help it scale from its Sussex roots to become a nationwide "high-quality food brand that simply and proactively speaks to the cooking skills that young people can take home, into the hospitality industry and throughout life".

The project's main goal was to give the charity the tools and confidence to help take its mission across the UK, branching out from the work that it had done (as Table Talk), reaching school-aged children across Sussex through immersive meal-prep experiences. To achieve this, UnitedUs created a new brand and communication strategy that is more suited to engaging new educational providers while, crucially, attracting supporting partners within the hospitality sector – one that looks to remain relevant for at least a decade into the future.

"One of the biggest challenges was moving away from the well-established name, Table Talk Foundation… the old brand, with its split identity—Table Talk Business Club and Table Talk Foundation—created confusion. It had a corporate feel that wasn't resonating with young people, especially on social media and within school environments," says Luke Taylor, creative partner at UnitedUs.

"Their vision was to inspire young people to connect with cooking and understand the food ecosystem, ultimately being 'Prept' for life… Our task was to simplify the brand while injecting youthful energy, making it relevant and engaging to inspire a new generation to get cooking." Another challenge was one shared by many charities – one that had a limited budget. But UnitedUs says that because of the agency's genuine belief in Prept's potential, it opted to invest "significant resources" of its own into the project. "It's a cause close to our hearts; we believe food is essential not just for health but for learning about other cultures and fostering positive relationships throughout life," says Taylor, who had supported Table Talk and advocated for its mission for the past few years.

At the start of the project, UnitedUs gained as much insight as it could through various hands-on means, including collaborating with the charity's existing audience of 3,000 young people, interviewing partner organisations, and drawing from the agency's own personal food experiences and connections to the hospitality industry – all of which converged to help create a new brand that looked to speak directly to the young people that Prept is dedicated to helping.

Indeed, the entire brand centres on that key audience and was designed with young people firmly in mind. The whole thing is dynamic and energetic, from the bold RGB-first colour palette, inspired by the "vibrant hues of a commercial chef's chopping boards", which helps the brand stand out in digital applications, to new custom typography and unique imagery, to a brand language that strives to be engaging through the use of familiar, colloquial expressions – all of which were crafted to resonate with the rather broad 10-21 age group Prept speaks to.

Throughout the branding, organic shapes are used to echo the forms naturally found in food. This comes to life in the logo, which can morph and change in form to create a superbly versatile mark. "Whether it's flowing like a smooth sauce or moulded like dough, it feels like something you can touch, taste, and interact with," says Taylor. "From the start, we envisioned an impactful brand that felt rich, inviting and sensory, both visually and verbally."

UnitedUs also used AI-based tools to push the identity further, infusing the brand with food imagery to bring Prept to life. "We chose to use AI because it allows us to help a charity create high-quality, brand-relevant, customised imagery at a scale and frequency that will significantly benefit their cause—at an affordable price," Taylor explains. "This technology enables the organisation to adopt strategies, particularly on social media, that were previously accessible only to much larger organisations."

He adds, "We believe charities should be bold and brave, and Prept's design reflects this belief, confidently capturing the attention of its youthful audience."