Overview

Length

6 weeks

Role

Designer

Tools

Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Aftereffects

Team

Solo

Case study

Matcha for the masses.

Matcha made less serious. Meowcha has something for everyone, whether you're a kid or an adult. Meowcha invites anyone to enjoy their drinks and products.

What did I expect? What was I trying to solve?

Many matcha companies today are aimed to be very serious and elegant. Meowcha is meant to be playful and welcoming to all. Something that you can feel comfortable trying with no guilt or embarrassment.

What did I end up with?

The whole Meowcha project led to 3 deliverables. The basic branding for the company (lockups, colors, some graphic assets), some packaging designs, and a video ad. All of these deliverables display the essence of Meowcha, a warm welcome for anyone who wants to delve into the world of matcha.

What did I learn?

Sometimes you need to stray away from plan A and open your eyes to unwritten plans. The initial plans and ideas for Meowcha were all changed drastically to evolve into the deliverables I ended up with. Moving away from that comforting first draft is difficult but, as I've discovered, a very important step to succeed.

Process

Project Motivation

Developing visual design skills

Project Type

Branding

Skills Learned/Used

Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Aftereffects

Overview

Brand foundation

Brand identity

When beginning the entire process, I tend to envision what the brand I'm creating wants to display themselves as. Do they want to be serious and sleek or creative and colorful? Being able to pinpoint what the brand wants to be viewed as is an important first step for me. Meowcha is a brand I envisioned wanting to be playful and child-like, a brand that feels comfortable and safe for everyone.

Moodboard

Now that I had a starting place, I began to put together a moodboard with general visual ideas that matched the brand identity. I let the visuals guide me, if it feels right it feels right. Piecing together this moodboard is important to me as it helps to solidify the brand identity and starts to manifest what the brand will look like. For Meowcha, I put together a moodboard with lots of calming landscapes, lots of hand drawn illustrations, relaxing cafes, and spring-time scenery.

Brand design

Colors

I chose the colors for Meowcha based on the moodboard. The colors I saw repeating the most are what I felt represented the brand, and so I settled on them for the colors.

Initial drafts

Meowcha took on many iterations at first. I knew that the logo had to feature a cat. I began by making many small iterations of cat faces before settling on one I thought represented Meowcha well. I then made a couple of "experimental" logos with this specific cat.

Revising and finalizing

Although I had some attachment to the original draft designs, I did feel they weren't the most representative of Meowcha. After revising the cat's design, I settled on a new design which I felt followed the brand motifs much better. This cat wasn't the finalized logo however, that went through many more iterations that were all attempting to branch out of Meowcha's main brand identity.

Fonts and graphic elements

Choosing the right font is VERY important for branding. I always try to use the brand identity and the visual motifs to help pick the right fonts. The graphic elements I designed help to further push the visual motifs of the brand as well as giving an overall sense of cohesion.

Reflection

Final thoughts

Meowcha encapsulates exactly what I wanted it to, a brand that's friendly, comforting, and welcoming to everyone. I'm very happy with how this project turns out and I'm very happy with everything I learned throughout it.

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