In 2026, we teamed up with three other folks to create a new gourmet sausage brand here in Japan: SausageFest.

The SausageFest identity is intentionally ridiculous: anthropomorphic foodstuffs, obvious colors one would probably expect, a dorky logo, and super-expressive bilingual typography.

Ian and partner Jan Rod designed and coded up the Shopify-powered e-commerce site together, and came up with some very silly copywriting for the project, as well.

We also designed a slew of characters for the project, as well.

Back in the early 1990s, Ian drew a series of comics about an anthropomorphic hot dog named Frank, so it made sense to bring him back to life after a handful of decades.

Yuki came up with the names of the rest of the characters. Her concept for Summer, the cheerleading hot dog, is absolutely bonkers.

We kicked off the “Summer of Sausage” with pop-up events at Neighbors in Kamakura, Pintology in Sasazuka, and Freeman Shokudo in Hatagaya.

It’s been a wild ride so far… Visit the SausageFest online here: https://www.sausagefest.jp/