Elmwood recently gave Yushoi, the Japanese-inspired brand of 'better for you' oven-baked pea snacks, an exciting new brand and packaging design. The consultancy was briefed to update the brand and how it is expressed on the packaging. It follows a branding exercise which saw Yushoi adopting a new positioning: 'multi-dimensional, high-intensity food that's better for you.'
The Elmwood team set out to find a way of visualizing the texture and flavor of each product in the Yushoi Pea Snaps range in a way that would make the brand stand out and provide a powerful platform for new products. At the heart of the design is a ring of texture and flavor set against a rich black background for consistent brand blocking and to ensure stand out in a chaotic supermarket environment. Each variety has its own illustration relevant to the sensation of that flavor - but not a literal interpretation of the flavor itself.
The illustrations, created in house by Elmwood, were devised by asking questions such as: what does sour look like? What's the shape of umami? What texture does spicy have? The photography is by Angus McDonald.
"From start to finish, the job was an absolute feast for the senses, with a fantastic client, who was not only genuinely passionate about their product and brand but were open to new and brave ideas and thinking," said Alex Halfpenny, Design Director at Elmwood. "This empowered the team to make some truly bold design decisions and as a result have managed to transform the presence on shelf, while retaining the spirit of Yushoi. It's easily one of the favourite projects I've ever worked on, and everyone involved should be proud of the results."
