In a recent collaboration with PepsiCo Design & Innovation, students from the Master in Food Design at SPD Scuola Politecnica di Design were invited to rethink the everyday meal experience transforming it into something visually striking, emotionally engaging, and culturally relevant.
Rethinking the Everyday
The challenge asked students to elevate the ordinary by combining food styling, recipe development, and brand integration. Their goal: to create recipes that not only taste great but also spark desire at first glance. Working with real-world branded ingredients, students explored how design thinking could influence what and how we eat, proposing new product concepts and food formats along the way.
A Design-Driven Culinary Brief
Guided by PepsiCo’s commitment to innovation, students were encouraged to approach food not simply as sustenance, but as an experience. They examined how meals can foster emotional connection, promote sustainable habits, and reflect shifting cultural values. Each recipe had to be craveable, easy to replicate, nutritionally thoughtful, and visually powerful, designed for the digital age and beyond.
Exploring Brand and Culture
Throughout the project, students explored how branded ingredients can play a more meaningful role in food culture. From chips reimagined as culinary toppings to cereal used in unexpected ways, they highlighted the potential of familiar products in new rituals of preparation, sharing, and enjoyment. Students also proposed new product innovations—like textures, formats, or flavor profiles, that could better serve these culinary visions.
From Research to Real-World Concepts
Each student backed their ideas with trend research, scenario development, and visual storytelling. The final outcomes included recipe cards, food photography, mock product packaging, and storytelling slides that showcased how their concepts could fit within PepsiCo’s broader brand ecosystem. These weren’t just meals—they were thoughtful, scalable ideas meant to inspire innovation across categories.
A Taste of What’s Next
The partnership with PepsiCo offered students a powerful opportunity to engage with design at the intersection of industry and imagination. It challenged them to blend strategy with creativity, and to propose solutions that respect brand identity while pushing it forward. Most importantly, it showed how design can bring new meaning to even the most familiar foods inviting people to see, cook, and eat differently.