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McD's Cheeseburger: 'Interface as Brand'

Posted by Adam Kuban, October 30, 2006 at 1:10 PM

produkter05_300dpi, blogged to AHT from the Flickr photostream of eatmydesign

Interesting essay from a branding-marketing standpoint on the nature of user interface as brand identity. (Think iPod — the clickwheel interface and white headphones are instantly recognizable without the need for the Apple logo on the product's face.) Carry that through to food, as the folks at Information Architects did, and you have the McDonald's cheeseburger:

... The cheeseburger has the easiest food interface one could think of. No forks, no knives, no spoons, no plates, no chopsticks. Like a sandwich, but softer and sweeter and above all: Standardized. No alarms and no surprises when eating a cheeseburger.

The standardization makes the cheeseburger’s interface a branded one. Only a McDonald’s cheeseburger looks like a a McDonald’s cheeseburger. I unwrap it and look at the bread and the meat and the ketchup mustard color pattern: McDonald’s cheeseburger it is.

The Interface of a Cheeseburger [Information Architects; via "Hamburger" Matty]

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Tags: Adam, Matty, McDonald's, technology