Food choices rarely feel political. They are habitual, cultural, often automatic. Yet behind each everyday decision sits a complex system with measurable environmental consequences. As conversations around sustainability become louder, the challenge is no longer access to information, but how that information is designed, communicated, and translated into action.
This thinking sits at the core of You Are What You Eat (Diz-me o que comes, descobre quem és), a digital campaign developed by KOBU Agency in collaboration with Associação Natureza Portugal/WWF Portugal (ANP|WWF). The project addresses the environmental impact of animal-based protein consumption and invites people to reconsider everyday habits through information, curiosity, and play.
KOBU was invited to collaborate with WWF Portugal to help communicate an increasingly urgent message: what we eat has a measurable impact on the planet. The challenge was not a lack of data, but how to design an experience capable of turning complexity into engagement. From the outset, the project was guided by a clear belief: when the subject is heavy, familiar, and often met with resistance, form matters as much as content.
As Nuno Tenazinha, Managing Partner at KOBU Agency, explains, the objective was never to lecture or impose change, but to create space for awareness. Food choices are deeply personal, shaped by habit and context. The role of the campaign was to make information relevant and tangible, allowing individuals to recognise their own responsibility without guilt or condescension.
The campaign launched on Earth Hour, on 25 March, with the release of a digital experience that was available for people to engage with. At its centre is an interactive quiz that invites users to discover their protein consumer profile. The tone is intentionally light, using humour, visual storytelling, and informal language to lower the barrier to participation. Through a series of questions, users are encouraged to reflect on their habits and are then offered practical suggestions with a protein guide for adjusting protein consumption in ways that reduce environmental impact.
At the end of the experience, users gain access to the Protein Consumption Guide, developed from a study conducted by WWF Portugal. KOBU worked on the guide to ensure that complex research could be understood quickly and intuitively, using visual clarity as a tool for learning rather than decoration. The objective was to remove friction from understanding, without diluting the depth or rigour of the information.
Visually, the campaign deliberately avoids a clean, overtly digital aesthetic. As Creative Director Mónica Loureiro explains, the team moved away from vector-based simplicity and instead drew from illustration practices rooted in pencil and eraser. This organic approach introduces texture, imperfection, and a sense of play, reinforced through wordplay and small visual details scattered throughout the experience. These elements reward attention and curiosity, transforming learning into something active rather than passive.
The campaign forms part of WWF’s international Eat4Change programme, which focuses on the environmental impact of food production and distribution, including greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, and the use of toxic compounds across the animal protein supply chain. To reach younger audiences, particularly Millennials and Gen Z, KOBU applied gaming logic and digital behaviours already familiar to these groups, prioritising engagement over instruction.
Alongside its digital presence, You Are What You Eat is supported by activations in schools and public spaces and continues to be promoted across social media channels. Together, these layers reinforce a consistent idea: awareness is not about restriction, but about understanding.
This digital experience went on to receive widespread recognition across design, digital, and sustainability categories.
The project received international recognition, including:
- CCS Design Award – Website of the Day (24 June 2023)
- Awwwards – Honorable Mention (11 May 2023)
- Orpetron Web Design Appreciation Award (July 2024)
At the Prémios Lusófonos in December 2023, the campaign was also awarded Silver and Gold Awards in the following categories:
- Design – Graphic Design (Communication Materials)
- Design – Illustration
- Digital – Minisite
- Events – Product Launch
- Graphic Production – Copy
- Graphic Production – Illustration
- Sustainability – Environment and Sustainability
For KOBU, this collaboration reflects a broader belief that design and strategy are not neutral. When used with intention, they can shape how people engage with information, how they question habits, and how they make decisions. Not by telling people what to do, but by creating the conditions for better choices.