Every year, IDEO welcomes us along with our loved ones to gorge and give thanks at a Thanksgiving feast and pie contest not to be missed. My first IDEO Thanksgiving experience was in 2009, and was also my first shot at designing a poster for an internal event. 

Well, two years have gone by and I’ve learned that design has the potential to be far sexier when it can be touched, when it invites you to play with it, and especially when tasted. So when the opportunity to create the poster for this year’s feast presented itself, I immediately started thinking sensorially. 

It just so happens that our photo studio on the IDEO Palo Alto campus is under the same roof as our food prototyping lab that we call “The Cutting Board.” So given the convenient disposal of these resources, paired with a peculiar craving for pie, it was clear that my concept was going to be touchable, fun, and delicious! 

Before sourcing the ingredients, I had to square away the typography that would become the focal point of the poster. I ended up using with the voluptuous font, Gelato Script and modified the letterforms to create a more balanced composition. Once this was out of the way, the ensuing process became highly technical. First printing the “stencil,” rolling out the dough, then meticulously cutting the letter forms out of the stencil while drinking pumpkin ale and listening to tunes late into the night. It was grueling, let me tell you. But I suppose it was worth it. So feast your eyes on it, and enjoy.