Chinah
How can authentic Chinese food become normalized for an American fast-casual industry?
Visual Design/Branding/UX/Social Media
2019-2023
Founder - Hegel Hei & Henry Meng
Senior Designer - Limber Zhang
Chinah was a Chinese fast-casual restaurant chain based in the Jersey City and NYC area. While I was originally onboraded to help with social media, it eventually lead me towards helping with conceptualizing the brand values and visual art direction for Chinah. As a startup company, I had the awesome opportunity to wear many creative and business hats while reflecting on my Chinese American identity.
Food Photography by Jenny Huang
Campaign posters designed for NJ New Port and NY Financial District
Brand Concept:
Chinah is an opportunity to own a new category of Chinese food in the US, by introducing a broad American audience to a different kind of Chinese cooking. Chinah serves homestyle meals that customers can enjoy on a daily basis. The food is prepared with fresh ingredients in a simple, thoughtful way that just tastes good.
True to our culture, to our cuisine, and to ourselves.
Insight 1
Insight 2
Insight 3
Insight 4
Insight 5
To differentiate ourselves in the fast-casual market, we decided to break away from the norm of flattened culturally ambigious branding, and instead embraced language and iconography that was distinctively and authentically Chinese identity.
Positioning ourselves
Visual Identity
How would we design a new typeface that could overwrite harmful Asian stereotypes? Throughout Asian American history, Chop Suey was established as a catch-all typeface for Asian identity. It was widely used by many Asian-owned establishments, and for racist anti-Japanese propaganda during WWII. We wanted to create a brand identity that would still have nuanced elements of Chinese restaurant culture without adding to the accepted stereotype of cheap Chinese takeout.
Typeface, wordmark, color and mockups
Our tongue in cheek tone with cultural nuance on socials
UIUX for Web and Mobile
A major problem soon arose nearly a year after opening. Covid halted the restaurant industry in 2020 and especially those that were Chinese and feared. In order to survive as a young startup we had to launch an efficient ordering app as soon as possible.
Feedback
“How many things do I have in the cart?”
“Are certain dishes cold dishes?”
“When customizing, can I mix the number of greens I get?”
“Do I need to sign in to order? ”
“Are there actual people behind the brand?”
“Quality of the ingredients?”
User Flow 1 - Customers can choose premade bowls efficiently and review their orders before checking out.
User Flow 2 - Customers can customize a bowl. We separate the steps so that customers can choose with less paralysis
User Flow 3 - To communicate the Chinah brand, we added more content that emphasizes our story and the founders behind our team.
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Simply Healthy
A Balanced Meal
Farm-Fresh Vegetables
Simple Preparation
Light & Satisfying
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Flavorful
Tastes Delicious
Traditional Ingredients
Slow-Marinated
Careful Preparation
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Home-Cooking
Our Family Recipes
Thoughtful but Unfussy
Sharing it Together
From Our Family to Yours
Grandma & Mom-Approved
Outcome and Reviews
