GDR Creative Intelligence are known globally for providing the latest on retail trends and innovations, keeping some of the world’s biggest brands in the know. Every quarter they release their eagerly anticipated Global Innovation Report, a 200-page curation of cutting-edge case studies from creative agencies centred around key emerging trends. This quarter, we were asked to design the front cover, tackling the theme of ‘Transparency’.

For most brands, transparency is the word of the moment; its ever growing popularity the result of consumers’ shift in values and the rise of the conscious start-up. Robot Food looked deeper into the expectations of consumers and how brands are responding to the demand. While transparency itself isn’t so clear cut, there was a tendency to over-simplify brands, pitting them against each other as ‘good guys vs. bad guys’.

Playing the front cover off against the back, the team chose to visualise the perceived gulf between brands that bare all and the corporate cover ups with impactful, contrasting visuals. Where most of the previous covers have been very graphic, Robot Food’s cover followed a more tactile approach, favouring handmade paper models and landscapes.