The restaurant of Yao

Agency: Mousegraphics PC
Industrial Design: Nikos Kastanakis
Photography: dpoupalos studio
Location: Greece
Project Type: Produced
Client: BAIXIANG FOODS CO.
Product Launch Location: Global
Packaging Contents: Instant Food

The brief:
We are launching a new product for instant cooking and we want a packaging that will immediately communicate this function

The design:
Our client presented us with the tools and ingredients of instant hot food-making, a mini private cuisine, that we had to package in a smart way that would perfectly identify form and function for consumers.

We designed both the brand logo and the product container along the same principle: human agency is the primary source of energy. The logo applies the brand name, “The restaurant of Yao”, in a way that stresses the human form inherent in the Chinese ideogram.

The container is inspired by the traditional Chinese basket for steaming rise and the related steaming pots. In the innovative hybrid form that we created out of plastic a whole process and its components are demystified, clearly annotated and easily performed: The sachets of ingredients are marked with universal infographics (meat, rice, heating agent); food placement is clarified by the additional compartmentalized disc; the covering carton provides the restaurant’s menu of the day. The consumer only adds water and an instant hot dish appears. Yao’s restaurant of wonders worked for us almost as an architectural challenge that we had to turn into a familiar pocket-practice and a satisfying design experience.