The Mutton vision was for a local country pub elevated with a wow factor. The team cares about food, where it comes from, its impact on the world and how it’s produced. But they wanted to avoid stuffiness – it’s a relaxing, casual place to spend time with friends and family, so there was plenty of room for wit and character in their identity.

We’ve all heard the saying ‘Mutton dressed as lamb’, but it got us thinking – what else could The Mutton be dressed as? What if we built a story around our character ‘The Mutton’ where he liked to dress up as anything but lamb?

With existing links to the current pub and its signage we saw immediately the opportunity to get creative with the recognisable features of Charles II, who was known as the Mutton-eating King. His hair, eyebrows and moustache are just as distinctive as his flamboyant outfits. It would also allow us to use host of stories which aligned with the food-focused ideas.

From this starting point we fleshed out the idea, bringing it to life with a distinctive illustrative approach – a beautifully crafted black and white hand drawn illustration with touches of bold colour to give The Mutton its unique personality. We then took the identity further, applying it to posters and other collateral with playful copy that tied in with our friendly Stewart sheep.