“Soya” by Celina Zhong (IDEA Grad 2024) is a top packaging and menu design project created in IDEA School of Design’s Branding Concentration
“Soya” by Celina Zhong (IDEA Grad 2024) is a top packaging and menu design project created in IDEA School of Design’s IDES 362 Visual Communication Studio I: Branding Concentration with Dominique Walker.
Check out this top student packaging and menu design project from our branding concentration!
About the Project by Celina Zhong (IDEA Grad 2024)
Welcome to the Li family household. From our culinary practices, to the way we set the table, we bridge the future of sustainability with Chinese tradition, rooted from our unique emigration story right here in Vancouver. When it comes to food, we prefer to call ourselves innovators. When it comes to our restaurant, we invite you into our own home. As for our name, well, you can pretty much take it as it is.
At Soya, we dress soy-based dishes in traditional Chinese flavours, inspired by our Chinese-Canadian story. Our dishes taste just like childhood, highlighting ethically sourced, 100% vegan ingredients, and nostalgic flavours. That’s the Li family recipe– and no, it’s not a secret. So come on in, hang your coats and allow us to pour you a warm cup of jasmine tea.
Let’s toast, or shall we say, bottoms up, to family.
Menu Design Project by Celina Zhong (IDEA Grad 2024)
With the concept of fusion and immigration in mind, I designed the menu using two distinct colours. As the menus overlap, the dish illustrations show a combination of culture that Soya is known for, while simultaneously fulfilling the need for translation as a result of the target audience. This includes Chinese immigrants and Vancouverites who wish to explore culture through food and unique flavours.
The Li family’s immigration story is thoughtfully integrated into the design through passport references, plane ticket layouts, colour, and an interactive brand story. This story is explained on a diecut circle that resembles a Lazy Susan table and tablecloth. It also touches on the raw experience of immigration life, as it can be a lonely yet rewarding experience. Everything is put together in a way that shows their compassionate story.
Packaging Design Project by Celina Zhong (IDEA Grad 2024)
This packaging series speaks to both audiences—Chinese families and people who would like to learn more about Chinese culture and multi-culturalism. The use of the Chinese Zodiac illustrations combined with the copy explaining their personality traits and compatibility work together to bridge unfamiliar flavours. This encourages people to be more inclined to integrate different cultural flavours in their everyday cooking. To subtly highlight the vegan fusion concept of Soya, the name of the sauce is crossed out, prompting consumers roaming the aisles to question what the sauce is made of if not oyster, shrimp, and fish.
To tie everything together, there is a hidden Easter egg component. When one tears open the packaging on the lid, it reveals a fortune. These fortunes reflect Soya’s core brand values: family, innovation, and community, rooted from their immigration story.
About the Course
Thematically structured around the concept of “design for good”, this course introduces a variety of creative briefs, research methods, leadership skills, and tools that model best practices. Students work in groups to deconstruct the briefs, build on the research, identify tasks, map workflow, explore and define problem-solving strategies, and build solutions and case studies. Students concentrate on branding for project deliverables.
