designing the future of food
designing the future of food
it started with a little gratitude.
I'd grabbed some Virtu at this little cafe in San Diego called Lovesong, took one bite, and literally had to put it down for a second to reach out on Instagram. "Been loving all of these at my local coffee shops here in San Diego!" It was just that good. You know that feeling when you taste something and you can actually connect with the person who made it? That's what this was. The ingredients tasted like they'd been picked that morning and everything about it felt intentional.
Virtu makes these chilled, protein-packed bites and plant-based desserts that somehow (well... they do have a food scientist) don't go bad without any weird chemicals, just real ingredients that make sense. It's food for people who are always moving, always hungry, always ending up with some sad granola bar because everything else either tastes terrible or turns to mush in your bag.
Before we knew it, we were talking about changing how people think about food entirely. How we fuel ourselves. How we stay energized without crashing. How feeling good becomes the default instead of this rare accident. And how we can open up shops globally once we start gaining trust from our customers with a huge rebrand.
"this is what thoughtful tastes like."
creating trust.
The first thing we did was slow down. Strip everything back. Really dig into what Virtu was about and what it could become. We dove deep into who's eating Virtu now, and who was actually going to buy this in the future and where they hung out, studied the competition, and ran a full brand audit to see where they stood in the market. Then we went deep into strategy, getting clear on the vision, putting words to something the founder had always felt but couldn't quite say yet. And that's when the brand's future started making sense.
Because strategy isn't optional. It's the foundation that lets everything else stand beautifully. It's what creates trust between a brand and the people they're trying to reach. Without it, you're just hoping things work.
We landed on brand pillars that went way beyond the product itself: being completely transparent about everything, obsessing over freshness, making sure flavor and function weren't fighting each other. We found a way to talk about nutrition that felt helpful instead of preachy. And we built a system that could work everywhere from vending machines to airline partnerships to potential retail spaces. We were building a sustainable world for the brand, one piece at a time.
design you can taste.
Once the strategy felt close to perfect, we moved into design. The logo, colors, and typography weren't just pretty things to look at. They were ways to show how the product actually feels when you hold it, when you eat it. We wanted the brand to feel like the food: clean, fresh, energizing. And of course, beautiful.
We kept the logo simple and strong. Chose colors that could work anywhere, from sleek retail shelves to local markets in Mexico City. We built a system that doesn't chase trends because we do the research to know what to avoid. We study what's going to stick around and resonate 10 years from now, not just this season. We weren't trying to make something pretty for the sake of it. We were making something that feels right when you pick it up and even better when you taste it.
This is how we work at Lemoine. We're not just a studio that hands over files and moves on. We're strategic partners who stay in it with you, figuring out the messy parts together, caring about where this thing goes as much as you do. Because that's what a strategic business partner does. That's what thoughtful looks like. And in this case, that's what thoughtful tastes like.
If you're building something that matters and want a partner who'll dig in with you, let's talk. You can see more of the Virtu process, including those early concepts before we refined everything, on the blog or check out the full project on Behance.
"one cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well."
