Imagine how famous brands would look like in a dystopian monochromatic world.

This project is about the concept of Notan and how the principles of Notan can be applied to western branding, re-imaging what they would look like without the pizzazz and bright colours.  This project was inspired by Kunel Gaur's "Generic Brands" project, in which he redesigns popular brands.

 

 

Notan is a term that refers to the Japanese idea of balanced light and dark areas in a composition. One of the most familiar symbols illustrating this concept is the circular yin and yang form from Eastern philosophy. Notan is essentially the idea that the elements of dark and light are equally important and need each other to exist. You can’t have negative space without positive space, and vice versa. 

 

This allows one to strip an artwork or composition down to the fundamental shapes and tones so as to practice balance and contrast in a design. It also teaches one to use negative space to their advantage, as one has to consider this to ensure a well balanced work. The power of Notan is that when a design is expressed in such simplified terms, compositional elements like large and small, heavy and light, movement, and balance become easier to see.

 

 

ACE is a big part of South African history - taking pride in offering South Africans the best vitamins and minerals in all their products. They have created hearty, nutritious meals for decades with the trusted ACE taste because they understand that if you eat well, you live better.

For my redesign, I chose to redesign the Ace maize meal packaging. I stuck to only two color variations black and white for this design. I also changed the typeface of the original brand to a sans-serif font called Uncut Sans. I played with the elements that stood out most in the brand such as the “ace” cards and a couple of the lines which I have minimized the amount of while still keeping a few of these line elements to maintain brand recognition.