The archive · Design & Visual · Strategic decision · 2022–2023
Tugg Burgers' Tugg City identity swaps American burger clichés for a world of its own
Kurppa Hosk rebuilt the Swedish chain as Tugg City, a cartoon nation of named characters that welcomes global cultures instead of US diner tropes.
Tugg Burgers · Kurppa Hosk
What it had to solve
Swedish burger joint Tugg needed to refresh its brand. The hamburger category's long-established behaviour leans on its (debated) American origins, and Tugg wanted an identity with more soul, more dynamism and, above all, more representation of the global cultures that eat burgers.
How it works
When Swedish burger joint Tugg needed to refresh its brand, the design brief carried a category problem: the hamburger's visual language leans on its debated American origins, from diners and drive-thrus to franchise kitsch. Tugg wanted more soul, more dynamism and, above all, more representation of the global cultures that eat burgers.
Design agency Kurppa Hosk answered by building a world instead of a logo. Colourful graphics and wild typography introduced the Tugg family — Cheesela, Fritte, Gurra, Mustafa, Shalotte and Ketty — who invite everyone into Tugg City, a fictional nation where anything is possible.
The identity distances the chain from the American fast-food default while keeping the burger universal: the hamburger belongs to everyone, so the brand around it should look like everyone. The work was recognised at the D&AD Awards and filed in the archive under graphic design.
Why it lands
- Naming each character gives a faceless fast-food identity a cast people can recognise and repeat.
- Locating the brand in Tugg City rather than in America lets the burger belong to every culture that eats it.
- Wild typography and colourful graphics make the identity unmistakable among conventional burger signage.
- The world-building gives the chain one consistent system to grow menus, restaurants and stories inside.
What it did
The identity gave the chain a visual world that distances it from the American diner default, and the work was recognised at the D&AD Awards and filed in its archive under graphic design.
What you can take
When a category's visual language is borrowed from one culture's mythology, build a nation of your own — with named citizens and a place everyone is invited to — instead of copying the cliché.
Since then
Tugg's identity — the Tugg City world and its six named characters — became the visual language of the Swedish chain from late 2022 onward, replacing the usual American burger shorthand with a fictional nation of its own. The work was filed in the D&AD awards archive under graphic design.
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