Order’s psychedelic identity for Sourdough Disco pays tribute to the rich visual history of the 1970s

Born out of a bread-baking spree amid the United States’ COVID-19 lockdown, Sourdough Disco is an exclusive club offering a strict capacity of six loaves per week for collection from their New York-based kitchen. Disco music became the soundtrack for founder Erin Wahed’s quarantine, with CHIC’s ‘Thinking About You’ on repeat day-after-day. As a result, the genre naturally informed the name of her ‘artisanally radical’ sourdough bread business. In need of a visual identity, Wahed sought the help of Brooklyn-based design office Order, who in turn found inspiration in the rich visual history of disco album covers. With a careful eye on the vibrant artwork of Donna Summer and Van McCoy albums, Order has produced a straightforward graphic system pulsating with colour and character. At its core is OH no Type Company’s Cheee, a variable treat of a typeface inspired by psychedelic fonts from the 1970s. Its unusual terminals and cavities, which mirror the forms and process of sourdough, are the perfect match for the colour palette, with neither feeling the need to take centre stage. A series of illustrative organic shapes complete the identity, each designed as a tribute to the 1970s while mimicking the patterns Wahed scores into each loaf of bread.