Creative Agency: Rice Creative
Illustrator: Brendan Wenzel
Project Type: Produced, Commercial Work
Client: Eastern Botanicals
Location: Vietnam

Background:
Eastern Botanicals is a new brand of Herbal Supplements.

In the words of Eastern Botanicals,

The essence of happiness and well-being has been researched by Traditional Eastern Medicine for more than 3,000 years. With four generations of experience, our family of Eastern herbal doctors has mastered the practice of medicinal herbs. It is now our great pleasure to bring our family’s secret formulas to you

The founder, Dr. Michelle Dao is a fourth generation Eastern herbal doctor, born in Vietnam and raised in the United States. She holds a Masters of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (MAOM) from the top-ranked American College of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in Houston. Michelle has also trained alongside the world’s best Eastern herbal doctors at the top hospitals in China. Eastern Botanicals selects herbs from the best farms all over Asia. Selection is based on optimal farming region and farmer. The ultimate goal of Eastern Botanicals is to bring happiness and well-being to it’s clients. Happiness, and vibrancy are brand pillars. With this in mind, it became important to make the fresh, lively herbs the focus of the visual identity.

Branding, Visual Identity, & Packaging
As Eastern Botanical’s creative partner, we began the journey by developing their brand and visual identity. Like their product, the Eastern Botanicals brand achieves a balance of Science and tradition. Symmetry and Eastern symbols meet a textbook feel. When it came to illustrating EB’s gorgeous roster of natural herbs, there was an aim to bring forward the unique personalities inherent in both the living plant, and its medicinal attributes. We sought to make the botanicals characters that the audience would come to recognize. The initial intention of using a standard scientific botanical illustration style quickly evolved into something all the more own-able for the brand, and lovable for the shopper. Rice Creative was able to call upon the talents of illustrator, Brendan Wenzel, to bring extra life to a range of 10 herbs. Brendan’s unique process is typically reserved for illustrating endangered species for conservation purposes as well as his own children’s books. In the Eastern Botanicals case, Brendan’s style brought huge personality and vibrancy.