Wagamama Retail
Redefining a category image
Brief
To redesign the wagamama retail range and define a stand-out pack experience.
Narrative
Bold type, beautiful colours and enticing visuals were at the core of delivering the refined and minimalistic retail pack refresh. Hierarchy, negative space and captivating bite-size visuals supported by recognisable colours for each flavour profile.
Outcome
Wagamama partnered with Morrama once again to create a distinctive and stand-out retail pack that would disrupt the shelves and grab the attention of customers nationwide.
Our aim was to ensure Wagamama’s retail range not only stood out on shelf, but that each dish was quickly identifiable. Whilst we explored graphical styles, nothing quite tempts you in like a genuine photograph of the food itself
- JO BARNARD
Standing out
From the outset, we wanted to ensure that Wagamama could be proud of the redesigns and drive marketing behind them, while owning the space and the shelves for the years to come. The east Asian food category is typically associated with heavy use of black and red and distinct graphic design elements inspired by the far east combined with dish-style food photography.
In order to break through the noise of the competition we wanted to do something different, remembering that on average, the pack has three seconds to influence someone’s decision in the aisle.
Hierarchy
It’s often said that creating effectively minimal designs requires more work to remove details than add them in. Morrama explored many iterations of pack hierarchy; balancing typography, layout, colour elements and visuals to create a captivating and concise set of rules that could be applied across all packs.
Building on findings from our research and strategy work, we established a hierarchy that put product and flavour at the top of the list, ensuring that people could quickly and clearly find what they were looking for. The result is a bold and colourful type setting, subtly overlapped by the luxurious food photography that pulls you in, while all secondary information is there waiting for further inspection once in hand.
Getting the imagery right
Morrama implemented AI software into our process to create variations of food photography in order to quickly and effectively design multiple concepts for Wagamama review. This meant we could experiment faster in our designs, without having to set up real photography in a studio and allowed the Wagamama team to make key decisions about styling quickly and effectively.
Once the overall graphic design was in place, we art directed the food photography, alongside a top London based food stylist and photographer. The implementation was almost instantaneous as the team were able to line up scenes with accuracy and overlay them on to pack designs on the spot, allowing Wagamama to review and sign-off straight away.
Kaizen continued
Partnering once again on our third project together, Wagamama have trusted Morrama to deliver their brand values across multiple touch points, from their innovative takeaway packaging design, to their staff bag re-shoring project and now the redesign of their iconic retail pack;, allowing customers to recreate the taste of Wagamama at home.
