Shibui
Shibui
Tools:
Tools:
Illustrator, Photoshop
Illustrator, After Effects
Industry:
Industry:
Food & Beverage
Food & Beverage
Deliverable:
Full Brand Identity System
Deliverable:
Full Brand Identity System
Duration:
3 Weeks
Duration:
3 weeks
SHIBUI is a self-initiated concept brand for an Asian grocery store built on a specific kind of tension: quiet restraint meeting bold flavor. The project drew from the Japanese aesthetic principle of shibui - a word that describes something subtly profound, understated but deeply considered. The challenge was translating that idea into a visual identity that could live across packaging, labels, and retail graphics while still feeling warm, appetizing, and genuinely inviting rather than cold and minimal.
SHIBUI is a self-initiated concept brand for an Asian grocery store built on a specific kind of tension: quiet restraint meeting bold flavor. The project drew from the Japanese aesthetic principle of shibui - a word that describes something subtly profound, understated but deeply considered. The challenge was translating that idea into a visual identity that could live across packaging, labels, and retail graphics while still feeling warm, appetizing, and genuinely inviting rather than cold and minimal.
The Challenge
The Challenge
Asian grocery branding tends to go in one of two directions. Either it leans heavily into traditional cultural visual codes - red and gold, dragons, brushwork - in a way that feels generic rather than specific. Or it overcorrects towards cold minimalism in an attempt to feel contemporary, and loses all warmth in the process. SHIBUI needed to do neither. The brief was to find a visual language that felt genuinely rooted in Asian food culture while being completely its own thing - modern, urban, personality-led, and built for an audience that takes food seriously.
Asian grocery branding tends to go in one of two directions. Either it leans heavily into traditional cultural visual codes - red and gold, dragons, brushwork - in a way that feels generic rather than specific. Or it overcorrects towards cold minimalism in an attempt to feel contemporary, and loses all warmth in the process. SHIBUI needed to do neither. The brief was to find a visual language that felt genuinely rooted in Asian food culture while being completely its own thing - modern, urban, personality-led, and built for an audience that takes food seriously.
The Approach
The Approach
The color came first. A specific deep orange - not the generic warm orange of mass-market food branding, but something richer, closer to a terracotta or the color of miso in good light. Applied as a full surface tone across the primary brand materials, it creates an immediate sensory response. You feel the warmth before you read anything. The brown used for type and illustration elements sits within that orange in a way that feels integrated rather than contrasted, giving the system a monochromatic depth that most food brands avoid.
The wordmark was custom drawn. A bold rounded letterform that carries warmth and weight simultaneously - approachable enough that the brand feels welcoming but substantial enough that it anchors the system. The slight irregularities in the letterforms are intentional, pulling it away from digital precision toward something that feels made.
The color came first. A specific deep orange - not the generic warm orange of mass-market food branding, but something richer, closer to a terracotta or the color of miso in good light. Applied as a full surface tone across the primary brand materials, it creates an immediate sensory response. You feel the warmth before you read anything. The brown used for type and illustration elements sits within that orange in a way that feels integrated rather than contrasted, giving the system a monochromatic depth that most food brands avoid.
The wordmark was custom drawn. A bold rounded letterform that carries warmth and weight simultaneously - approachable enough that the brand feels welcoming but substantial enough that it anchors the system. The slight irregularities in the letterforms are intentional, pulling it away from digital precision toward something that feels made.
The sumo character was developed as the brand mascot and illustration anchor. Drawn with a loose, confident line, the character appears across packaging in different contexts - lifting a jar, accompanying a snack pack, present but never overdone. The illustration style references Japanese woodblock print traditions at a distance, filtered through a contemporary urban sensibility. It gives the brand a face and a sense of humor without undermining its seriousness about food.
The label design for the Shiro Miso jar was the most layered piece of the system. Japanese kanji integrated with English copy, the sumo character appearing at small scale, circular badge compositions, and a warm amber background that references the product color. Every element is doing something specific. Nothing is purely decorative.
The sumo character was developed as the brand mascot and illustration anchor. Drawn with a loose, confident line, the character appears across packaging in different contexts - lifting a jar, accompanying a snack pack, present but never overdone. The illustration style references Japanese woodblock print traditions at a distance, filtered through a contemporary urban sensibility. It gives the brand a face and a sense of humor without undermining its seriousness about food.
The label design for the Shiro Miso jar was the most layered piece of the system. Japanese kanji integrated with English copy, the sumo character appearing at small scale, circular badge compositions, and a warm amber background that references the product color. Every element is doing something specific. Nothing is purely decorative.
The Result
The Result
A complete brand identity demonstrating how a cultural concept - shibui - can be translated into a visual system without becoming a literal representation of that culture. The project shows how color, custom type, illustration, and copy direction work together as a single coherent voice, and how restraint in the brand environment can make the product experience feel richer rather than emptier.
A complete brand identity demonstrating how a cultural concept - shibui - can be translated into a visual system without becoming a literal representation of that culture. The project shows how color, custom type, illustration, and copy direction work together as a single coherent voice, and how restraint in the brand environment can make the product experience feel richer rather than emptier.
ANAND SAWRUP
ANAND SAWRUP