January 2022
It all started with a logo, as do so many stories about logos. Free Wheeler Pizza has been around since the ‘70s, and their logo—perfect for the time and audience—was needing a refreshing. Or a refreshment? No, that’s not it, it didn’t need a cold beverage, which can taste mighty fine with pizza, I might add. But it did need to be replaced.
Step 1: What are we selling? Food? Boring! Convenience? Getting warmer! What we are really promoting is fun. It’s party food. We don’t tell our buddies, “Hey, let’s order a combo with extra broccoli, hold the cheese, and watch that documentary about the tortured lives of city traffic officials.”
Other adjectives we worked with were “quality,” “fast” and “delivery.” Hm, maybe I can sell the unused logos to a birthing center. “Quality babies delivered fast!”
I showed a half-dozen ideas, but, like Miss America, there can be only one winner. I’m not counting the semi-winners, like Miss Congeniality and Miss Secretly Pregnant. Unlike Miss America, there was no losers’ dance or swimsuit competition. The thought of stuffing a pizza into a one-piece and watching it strut about on stage is too Men In Black for me to handle.
And the winner is: fun, fast, automotive, goofy, a little retro, a little dangerous, and the color of pepperoni. Will it hold up for 50 years? Will cars still exist? Will I be willing to update it when I’m 114 years old? I think I’ll just be coy on that matter for now.
Boxing Day
All this new logo-ry meant the old boxes were no longer worth a blob of day-old, cold cheese stuck to the inner lid that some people—not me, I promise—might want to scrape off for a happy memory of the night before.
The rules: We needed four sizes of box. All of them had to warn people that pizza is hot, and not to open the box upside-down. In case you were wondering, eating pizza does not require a master’s degree.
A round box was not in the cards, so I did the next best thing: made it square, with aspirations of roundness. and putting our two messages in the corner pieces. And what the heck, since there are four corners, let’s put in more important messages, like, “fingers not forks” and “don’t eat the box.” Each box gets different messages. Collect all four sizes! They’re just like baseball cards, only more cumbersome to store and lacking batting statistics.
Now this savory scion of the ‘seventies is ready to roll into the second fifth of the 21st century. Order a pizza (free delivery!) here: FreeWheelerPizza.com. We’ll work on the website another day.
Ha! Yes! Design
is Jim Hayes and some pencils and paints and a piano in a mid-century dwelling that’s half office, half home sweet home. After stints in design and ad agencies, I’ve succeeded as a free-lance artist for 30 years because my philosophy is to provide high-quality design, illustration and writing, within your time frame, at a cost lower than places with receptionists.
Not that there’s anything wrong with receptionists. I find them marvelously receptive.
I’m happy to meet with you, at no charge, to discuss your current materials, new projects, or how to juggle three balls in three easy lessons. Call me at 801-486-8444 or email jim@ha-yes.com.