How McDonald’s built a Gen Z restaurant—inside CosMc’s space-themed design

Turner Duckworth is no stranger to big branding projects, including McDonald’s well-received global brand refresh in 2019. But the design agency had to think smaller for another recent McDonald’s project—creating a visual identity from scratch for CosMc’s, the fast food chain’s small-format, space-themed spinoff, targeting Gen Z, which debuted in December 2023. Ad Age Creativity Bookmark our section covering the best in brand creativity every day Read more here CosMc’s branding presented unique challenges and opportunities. While most corporate identity projects are about codifying design rules for scalability, the agency and client saw a more experimental path for CosMc’s—one where shareability and a more off-kilter, exploratory vibe were prioritized over uniformity. This departure fit well with the “alien” theme of the chain itself. The result is a photogenic, social media-forward brand—mixing retro Space Age aesthetics with modern engagement touchpoints—that presents a lot differently than the mothership. Embracing a peculiar mascot Turner Duckworth began working on CosMc’s before it was CosMc’s—when the project had a code name and wasn’t yet space-themed. But naming the chain after CosMc, a little-known alien who was one of the McDonaldland characters in the 1980s, proved to be a useful unlock. “He showed up in some ads and Happy Meal executions. He was in a video game. But he was a little untapped,” said Tyler Brooks, creative director at Turner Duckworth. “He’s a weird one, right? He’s a half-mechanical alien, like a hermit crab—or a turtle, since he and his ship are one and the same. Leaning into this odd being was a bizarre curveball, but the best possible one in hindsight.” The spinoff chain’s origin story links up with the character’s antics from the ’80s commercials. In the spots, the alien would steal McDonald’s food—on what he called “trade missions”—and share it with his people back home in CosMcland. The CosMc’s restaurant, according to its website, was created when CosMc returned to Earth with a bunch of new menu items he’d invented, including a raft of colorful beverages. CosMc isn’t the face of the new chain; he’s more of an ancillary presence. But the space theme is central to it. This was fitting for McDonald’s, a brand that came of age in the ’50s and ’60s. The aesthetics of the time—mid-century modern, the Space Age, “Jetsons”-style Googie architecture—formed the basis of the CosMc’s look. “Space was the anchoring theme, but it definitely wasn’t the inception,” said Chris Garvey, executive creative director at Turner Duckworth. “McDonald’s plays a lot with future nostalgia. There are very few brands that are so embedded in culture globally that can tap into these core memories. It just gelled really well.” The easy solution would have been to imitate Pizza Planet from “Toy Story.” But the agency wanted something more unexpected. “That’s where your mind goes with a space-themed restaurant, but we wanted to buck that idea,” Brooks said. “It was tricky, not only for us but the other stakeholders in the project, finding that balance between out of this world and feet on the ground.” A playful, looser design system Sweeping, dynamic shapes serve as the basis of CosMc’s visual language. The agency explored countless lettering treatments before settling on a gestural wordmark that flows from letter to letter at an upward, oblique angle to complement the rest of the design system. The agency also developed a suite of patterns and graphic elements that nod to celestial phenomena—auroras, orbits, hyperspace, etc.—to bring a visual boost to the system while encouraging shareability among Gen Z. The character’s extraterrestrial origins also inspired a zero-gravity approach to much of the photography. There are “Easter eggs” hidden in the designs, too—creating moments for customer interactions in an organic way. For example, latitude and longitude coordinates are used to unveil the next location of each restaurant. A custom mural on a ceiling at one location depicts the constellations that were in the sky when it opened. It was an unconventional process for both agency and client, designing a brand in a looser way that still works together as a system. “When you’re working with a major client, you’re so used to getting strategic very quickly and getting to the design,” said Garvey. “This was one where we had this circle of trust with the clients, saying, ‘We have to find the weird and explore the uncomfy and do something different from what we usually do.’ It was a lot of unpacking of what corporate design is and saying, ‘How can we avoid those things?’” Instead of falling into mechanical habits, it was about embracing design elements if they felt right, even on a small scale—for example, the keystone shape on the cups. “It was allowing ourselves to say, ‘I like the vibe of that. Let’s test this out here. Maybe it’s not everywhere, but that’s OK,’” said Garvey. “It was about going with your gut and saying, ‘These all work cohesively, but it doesn’t have to be copy-paste.’” The packaging, in particular, had to be photogenic for shareability—mirroring the menu items themselves, which are colorful and unexpected, once again fitting the theme of exploration. (The chain’s beverages include the evocatively named Sprite Moonsplash and Island Pick-Me-Up Punch; the food items include a Spicy Queso Sandwich and Hazelnut McPops.) “With the youthful, Gen Z target, sharing is really key,” Brooks said. “The menu team put so much effort into the ingredients and the colors and beauty of the products. To not be able to show that off would be a real problem. Because then it’s all about the brand, not about the brand connecting with people. That’s the most important thing, we think, about CosMc’s—it’s an alien brand that feels kind of human, and people see that charm.” Iterating as the chain grows CosMc’s is a limited offering for now. After launching the first location in Bolingbrook, Illinois, last December, McDonald’s has opened just five more—all in Texas. The goal is to compete with beverage-forward chains such as Starbucks and Dunkin’. (The most recent CosMc’s, in San Antonio and Fort Worth, opened in August.) McDonald’s has said there will be “up to 10” locations by the end of 2024. CosMc’s has not run any traditional ads yet, but the Turner Duckworth designs have been central to the chain’s presence on social platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. Going forward, the vibe created by the identity is expected to inform much of the chain’s messaging. @uscosmcs literally cannot stop ♬ original sound - CosMcs “This is really where the flexibility and the vibe of the identity comes to life, where it doesn’t have to be us that’s creating all the work,” said Brooks. “McDonald’s other partners and agencies feel empowered and enabled to do that. It’s exciting from a creative standpoint, and we’ve embraced that.” “This should be a brand that stays fresh, that always has something new,” added Garvey. Designing for Gen Z generally The CosMc’s brand is part of an industry-wide trend toward more playful and interactive design, driven by Gen Z’s demand for it. Brands everywhere that are targeting youth—and have playfulness in their DNA—are loosening the reins on what their design work looks like. “You don’t want your bank to do this, but it’s perfect for CosMc’s,” said Garvey. “This is happening across all branding. You have a major consumer base that is asking brands to play a lot more. It’s something we’ve been wanting for so long. More flexibility, more fun, more shareability. It’s about keeping the clients close and saying, ‘We can’t systematize this too tightly. We need to make moments.’” The playfulness must be self-aware, too, to land properly with Gen Z. “At its worst, it would be taken as, ‘We’re being zany and ironic and quirky,’” said Brooks. “It’s about having that intentional self-awareness, so the brand doesn’t come across as cringe. Knowing when it’s a little too much, and when you can let the personality in, that’s where charm comes through. That’s the superpower.” In the end, it’s about nailing the carefree yet knowing tone that Gen Z enjoys, while also giving them tools to participate in the work. “CosMc’s is nice, because you have these physical spaces to create moments—this is a great selfie spot, for instance, or there is a great little discovery in the packaging,” said Garvey. “There’s always going to be that tension of, ‘How do I roll this out on a larger scale?’ But honestly, it’s about not overthinking things. If you like this, if there’s a spark there, let’s make it work somewhere. Let yourselves play. You don’t have to like talk at consumers. Give them tools. Give them a means of creating shareable content.”

How McDonald’s built a Gen Z restaurant—inside CosMc’s space-themed design

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