Two pouches of Wasi Brands Pandan Coconut Waffle & Pancake Mix displayed on a wooden countertop with green waffles, pancakes, pandan leaves, coconuts, and ceramic kitchenware.

Wasi Brands

Overview:
Wasi Brands is inspired by the Vietnamese and Peruvian foods its founder grew up eating, making heritage flavors more accessible through familiar pantry staples.

Challenge:
Pandan is unfamiliar to many Western shoppers, making it difficult to earn a first purchase without sacrificing its cultural authenticity. The identity needed to appeal to those who grew up with these flavors while remaining approachable and inviting to those discovering them for the first time. It also needed to celebrate both Vietnamese and Peruvian heritage while creating a flexible system that could scale across future products.

Scope:

  • Brand Strategy

  • Brand Identity

  • Packaging Design

  • Brand Guidelines

As brands adopt the same visual trends, they start to look more alike.

Comparison of four pancake and waffle mix packages illustrating common category design trends, including large product photography, minimal color palettes, and simple layouts.

One exercise in our strategy process is the Sea of Same, where we study the visual language of a category to uncover opportunities for differentiation. As brands begin to look more alike, it becomes harder for shoppers to tell them apart. Because pandan is still unfamiliar to many Western shoppers, Wasi Brands keeps familiar category cues to support recognition while creating a bold visual identity rooted in its Vietnamese and Peruvian heritage.

Traditional Vietnamese embroidered textile featuring colorful animals, geometric motifs, and ornamental patterns.
Textile artwork by Peruvian artist Máximo Laura featuring vibrant colors, geometric forms, and stylized birds.

The Encyclopedia of Crafts in APR

Máximo Laura

Across both cultures, we found shared themes of geometric forms, nature-inspired details, vibrant color, and handcrafted ornamentation. These inspired a contemporary visual language that flexes across Vietnamese- and Peruvian-inspired products, as well as future products that blend both cultures.

Concept diagram with an Incan stone doorway, a lotus flower, and the final Wasi Brands logo connected by plus and arrow symbols to illustrate the logo's inspiration.

Inspired by the trapezoidal forms found in Incan architecture and the lotus, an important symbol in Vietnamese culture. Together, they create a doorway into the brand's story.

Color palette for Wasi Brands showing labeled primary and secondary colors, including Heritage Green, Golden Yolk, Lychee White, Sesame Black, Pepper Orange, and complementary accent colors.

Green reflects the natural origins of pandan and the product that started it all, while yellow brings a sense of hospitality and optimism that helps the brand stand out on shelf. The palette captures the warmth and vibrancy of the culinary traditions behind Wasi Brands.

Angled grid of the Wasi Brands brand guidelines, showing pages on the brand strategy, design principles, logo system, color palette, typography, patterns, and applications.

The identity system extends beyond the logo through a cohesive set of colors, typography, layouts, visual language, and design principles that define how the brand looks, feels, and communicates. These guidelines create consistency across every touchpoint while providing a flexible foundation that can evolve as Wasi introduces future heritage-inspired products.

Front and back views of the Wasi Brands Pandan Coconut Waffle & Pancake Mix package, featuring illustrated branding on the front and nutrition, ingredients, and preparation information on the back.
Front of the Wasi Brands Pandan Coconut Waffle & Pancake Mix package with illustrated pandan leaves framing a central waffle, alongside palm trees and Vietnamese Lạc birds on a bright yellow background.
Back of the Wasi Brands Pandan Coconut Waffle & Pancake Mix package showing nutrition facts, ingredients, preparation instructions, and illustrated pandan leaves along the top.

The final packaging brings the Wasi brand world to life through a bold retail experience designed for shelf impact. Meaningful cultural symbols, including the Vietnamese Lạc bird, alongside botanicals, ingredients, and organic forms create a rich visual world that celebrates Vietnamese and Peruvian culture in a contemporary, approachable way. The result is packaging that feels memorable, immersive, and distinctly Wasi.

Mockup of the Wasi Brands CPG packaging design displayed on a grocery shelf among competing pancake and waffle mixes, illustrating its visual differentiation within the category.
Packaging design matrix positioning pancake and waffle mix brands along a spectrum from traditional and functional to contemporary and expressive, with Wasi Brands shown at the "contemporary and expressive" end.

As the category shifts toward more expressive packaging, Wasi Brands differentiates itself through a rich visual world inspired by Vietnamese and Peruvian heritage, brought to life through contemporary illustration and storytelling. By balancing familiarity with discovery, the identity makes the brand feel approachable to new audiences while creating a flexible system that can grow across future products lines without losing what makes it distinctly Wasi.

Wasi Brands Pandan Coconut Waffle & Pancake Mix packaging displayed in a styled kitchen setting with pandan leaves, green waffles, and floral accents.
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