Studio Oker uses slapstick comedy to shape Ouch’s smash-burger identity

When Ole Dysjaland set out to create Ouch, his smash-burger venture, he had a simple challenge in mind: how do you make fast food genuinely better without sacrificing speed or simplicity? After 20 years in hospitality and founding Hekkan Burger, Dysjaland knew the answer lay in stripping things back to two essentials – perfect meat and fresh bread baked daily. But translating that culinary philosophy into an identity that could scale across Europe required something equally clear and distinctive. Stavanger-based Studio Oker landed on a concept that’s both immediate and unexpected: physical comedy. The brand’s name already nudges at the satisfying smash of a burger hitting the griddle, so the studio leaned into mishaps, slapstick and the exaggerated fail moments that span from silent film pratfalls to internet culture. It’s a reference point that needs no translation, making it ideal for a brand with ambitions beyond Scandinavia. The visual language centres on loose, sketch-like illustrations by Morten Kantsø, depicting everything from someone stepping on a rake to being hit by a cannonball. “Creating the identity was a balancing act – keeping the brand understated and refined to reflect the culinary craft, while still letting the playful concept shine through the experience,” Designer Ida Kristine Hatleskog explains. “Morten’s illustration style felt like the perfect fit: loose and charming with a sketch-like quality, yet drawn with a level of refinement.” These illustrations appear subtly across packaging and interiors, never overwhelming the main event. On burger wraps, small vignettes of mishaps frame the edges. In the flagship location in Løkkeveien, which opened in October 2024, a loop of fail GIFs plays while customers wait in line – a functional detail that doubles as entertainment and reinforces the brand’s tongue-in-cheek attitude.