Analogue founder Barry Darnell on Stranger Things ice cream… And Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

Barry, thanks for joining us!
Hey Deej, it’s great to chat to you, thank you for the invite.

My pleasure! So, now… You’re the founder of Analogue. What do they do?
We’re Analogue, a Graphic Design Studio located in Leeds. We love to build brands with character, utilising Illustration, branding and motion. For the last 17 years, we’ve worked on a wide range of projects from developing identities and brand worlds for fast-moving consumer-goods brands to style guides, packaging, campaigns and a whole lot more…

We relish in the challenge to work across many disciplines and are not afraid to take on challenges that push us beyond the confines of where we have been before.

Whom do you count among your clients?
We pride ourselves on building long-standing relationships with our clients and we often feel like an extension of their team, some of the people we’re fortunate to work with include Nickelodeon, Universal, Illumination, Coke, Mattel, Microsoft, Warner Brothers, Netflix and many more emerging brands that we help guide and grow.

Wow. That’s a heck of a logo wall! And one of the Netflix projects you’ve mentioned to me is a fantastic tie in with Stranger Things. I understand you’ve brought Scoops Ahoy ice cream to life!
You’re correct, this was an amazing project for us, as it perfectly tied together two areas of our expertise: FMCG and licensing.

It’s terrific fun! For the uninitiated, what is Scoops Ahoy?
Scoops Ahoy is the fictional ice-cream parlour from the Stranger Things universe. It’s nautical themed and steeped in 80’s shopping-mall nostalgia.

I imagine it’s quite challenging to bring something like that to life… How did you go about it?
It certainly is, and there were a lot of teams involved, our remit was the branding, packaging and retail assets. We also did the style guide. The first ask was to take the existing branding from the show and modify it so it had maximum impact on shelf, while still remaining very close to the logo people know and love.

Oh, there are subtle differences, then? That goes to show you’ve done a good job, because I hadn’t noticed!
Yes, some subtle differences. Then we developed the packaging for the ice-cream tubs that considered all the hierarchy of information and multiple brands; Netflix, Stranger Things and Scoops Ahoy. As mentioned, we also worked on the style guide so licensing partners can create products to complement the ice cream and and secondary packing system for them to utilise as needed.

This looks AMAZING! You didn’t design the ice-cream flavours themselves, though, presumably?! That’s a little outside your purview?
Unfortunately not! would have loved to, though… I hear it was a fun few days and some of the flavour combos are pretty amazing. I think ‘The Void’ is a standout: black vanilla ice cream filled with strawberry ribbons and decadent vanilla cream cookie pieces.

Oh, my days! I have to try these… and to that end, if people want to try these how do they find out more? Where do they go?
The Release was originally a US exclusive with Walmart. Any of your US readers can pick some up here.

And what about those poor unfortunates slumming it in Broken Britain?
Ha! Well, there was a pop-up tour in the UK towards the end of last year and there will hopefully be a UK and EU versions released very soon – stay tuned!

Alright. I’ll have to be patient. Now, as I recall, we actually met through your work for the toy and game industry. What is it you’ve done for Nickelodeon recently?
Nickelodeon is our longest-standing client – I can’t count how many projects we’ve done for them to-date… We’re usually woking on two or three at any point in time. A big one for us last year was the release of the latest iteration of the Heroes in a Half-Shell, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.

Oh, wow! That’s a heck of a brand! Fun?
Oh, hugely; such a fun assignment… If you’ve seen the movie, it’s really pushed the visual boundaries while recalling a lot of the nostalgia of the original show and toy-line.

Yes, that came up in conversation actually: how everything has to walk the tightrope that bridges the old and the new…
Right. We started with the style guide which has various looks in it… That was a project that lasted over a year from start to finish. In tandem, we also looked at the packaging guide. It’s great when you get the opportunity to steer both side-by-side as it helps create a very cohesive look for a property, across different touch points.

Right.
For the packaging, like the movie, we nodded back to the to the source material. We recreated an updated version of the brick pattern and broken wall from the original toy lines packaging. It’s really nice to see it on shelf, it feels like a very coherent system and works great across all the different formats.

And it’s hard not to miss, isn’t it, Barry? It really pops!
Thank you – we like to think so! In fact, was crucial to choose a colour that really stood out from its competitors down the toy isle – so choosing the vibrant purple really helped the range pop, as you say, and create that colour blocking shelf takeover for people to gravitate toward. On top of that, I was so happy to see the range won ‘Action Figure of the year’ at the 2023 toy awards, the sculpts are amazing and some of the mutants are super gnarly, I love them!

How did you come to be doing what you do, Barry?
After doing a degree in graphic design and working a year in industry, I felt I could carve my own path… I started freelancing and picking up clients pretty quickly! That let me to establish Analogue and grow a team of like-minded people who are all super talented and share the desire of designing to enjoy!

You really do seem to enjoy it, too; i’m sure your energy will jump off the page.
Thank you! Well… My love of toys is firmly rooted in the 80s: Star Wars, Transformers, He-Man, TMNT and so on. I couldn’t walk past a toy shop without going in when I was three… And still can’t today at 43! What’s amazing is we’ve now worked on all these properties – and still do! Just like Peter Pan, it feels like a perpetual childhood, and we never need to grow old.

So do you enjoy browsing toy shops, or do you still buy toys?
I actually have an extensive toy collection that spans both vintage and designer toys. In parallel to Analogue, I also used to have an online store. I still curate events and host a toy convention annually in London.

Oh! This I did not know! What is that called? Where do people find out more?
That’s ToyConUk.com. It was all this extra-curricular activity that put us on Nickelodeon’s radar ten or so years ago when they asked us to pitch on a packaging refresh for SpongeBob Square Pants. Fortunately, we were successful in winning that – and it started our journey into the wonderful world of licensing.

Fantastic answer! How fascinating. Thank you, Barry. What’s new for you in 2024?
I’m very excited for 2024. We spent the last couple of years really solidifying the foundations of Analogue: we built a brand-new studio and added to the team, so this year I’m very much looking forward to getting back to traveling! I have trips planned around the globe – not holidays, mind! I plan to catch up with clients both old and new. We’re also very much focused on Analogue’s motion offering… We have some big projects already in the studio to kick off the year, and lots of exciting conversations in the works.

Also, 2024 seems like it’ll be the year of Ai, so we’re exploring what this means for us as a business. It’s exciting to embrace new technologies while still remaining true to who we are: Analogue people in a digital world! We’ll always be outputting highly creative work that retains the human touch. I’m sure there’ll also be some visits to a toy shop to two!

Brilliant! If people want to find out more about you, where might they go?
If you have a packing or brand project you’d like to discuss, feel free to reach out. You can also find out more on our website: www.madebyanalogue.co.uk

Thank you, Barry. See you in a toy store… Some time!