What does it mean to feel full?

For Mandja, it means something more than food.

It can be sitting at home after a long day, having something familiar to eat and just having a moment to pause

This feeling became the starting point for the brand. Mandja is an everyday wellness food brand, but we wanted to avoid a common direction of looking like a typical wellness brand. Instead we turned to the things that we already feel familiar with: home kitchens, everyday objects, warm colors and the comfort that comes along with them.

A little bit of home

The visual identity was inspired by Asian home kitchens.

Not a specific one in mind, but the kind of kitchens that feels lived in, warm colors, familiar packages and little objects that sit on top of the counter nothing too polished and it's the feeling of comfort that makes it so endearing.

We blended this with a more simplified version of a visual identity system that came from a contemporary source. The goal wasn't to make Mandja look old, we simply wanted to bring some of those familiar feelings into a new brand.

Wellness doesn't have to be so serious

Wellness branding can feel very pristine.

For Mandja, we wanted to feel a little more laid back.

The earthy colors, cream tones, hints of orange, and playful elements helps the brand feel warm and accessible while still talking about wellness. It's a way to communicate about healthy choices, but without setting hard rules as to how things should be done. That felt much closer to what Mandja stood for.

Meet the kukang

The kukang is one of the most recognizable parts of the identity.

It fits very well with the brand message of being slow and Mandja is all about slowing down to enjoy the good things in life. But beyond that, we simply liked what the character brought to the brand, it made Mandja feel more lively. The kukang can move from being used on packaging, to social media and other brand assets, giving the identity an endearing mascot for people to remember.

Nostalgia, in small doses

We didn't want to make Mandja look completely retro.

For us, nostalgia is effective when it's subtle, a certain color, an object from the past, a familiar shape or pattern sometimes these small touches are enough to trigger a memory. With Mandja we were more interested in the feeling of home rather than trying to re-create the past. This keeps the identity warm, but not too vintage.

Keeping the idea simple

There were many directions we could have gone for, but the recurring thought was very simple:

slow down, eat well and enjoy the moment

It became our little filter throughout the project, we looked at too serious and took it back to something warm, too nostalgic and put it in the present, too complicated and we removed it. In the end, we wanted Mandja to be a food brand that was easy to like, easy to remember.

Final thoughts

Mandja is a great reminder that a wellness brand doesn't always have to look so clean, and that a nostalgic brand doesn't always have to look old. Sometimes it's the little touches that make something feel special and familiar. For Mandja these things took the form of using warm colors, references to Asian kitchens, playful graphics and a slow kukang. The result is a food brand that feels contemporary, but also has a touch of home. A better way to feel full.