Building an Understanding of the Market and Product
When CURRYiT, a growing consumer food brand, approached us, they were at a critical point in their journey. The brand had been established with a strong core product idea—premium cooking pastes that bring the authentic flavours of nation-wide cuisines to home kitchens. However, their existing packaging and branding no longer reflected the scope and vision they had for their future. Kwazi was tasked with helping CURRYiT refine and refresh its identity, especially as the brand was looking to scale and introduce a diverse range of products.
At the outset, it was clear that packaging design for CURRYiT would be a solution that not only communicated the premiumness of the product but also stood out on the shelf in a crowded market. This required a deep understanding of consumer behaviour, cultural nuances, and product differentiation in the retail culinary space
Today, consumers are more health-conscious and knowledgeable, demanding transparency in ingredients. CURRYiT’s products offer a convenient yet authentic experience but compete against local and international FMCG players who are established household names.
To build a distinctive identity for CURRYiT, we needed to balance multiple objectives: appeal to a diverse audience, showcase authenticity, and position the product as a premium offering while ensuring the brand remained engaging and relatable.
The Need for an Evolved Logo & Language
A brand’s identity evolves, and the logo created when CURRYiT was launched no longer reflected its ambition as it grew. The Kwazi design team worked to refresh the CURRYiT logo into something cleaner, clearer, and more adaptable to different packaging formats and marketing channels. We streamlined the visual elements and focused on creating a logo that could hold its own whether used in high-stakes applications (like product packaging) or visually vibrant brand campaigns (like digital ads or event branding).We carefully considered the psychological impact of colour theory, text hierarchy, and brand language reflected through elements like illustrations and iconography.
The refreshed CURRYiT language now incorporates culturally significant elements tied to the origins of each flavour, which are visible across various brand touchpoints, while depicting a sense of sophistication – in product and brand
Packaging Design: An Iterative Process
Leo Burnett famously remarked “A good packaging is a happy wedding between words and pictures, and not a contest between them”
CURRYiT’s packaging needed to do more than simply house the cooking paste. It needed to be a powerful storyteller, showcasing the brand’s values, the cultural origins of its flavours, and its premium quality.
The process of designing the packaging was iterative. We started by researching the market and examining competitor packaging to identify opportunities for differentiation.Creating the right packaging design meant many rounds of iterations. Initial design options didn’t capture the right balance between storytelling and product clarity. We went through several concepts—testing various typography, colour schemes, and imagery—before landing on the final design that best represented CURRYiT.
To emphasize the detail orientation required to do justice to a good packaging design – we organized a photoshoot that captured the essence of CURRYiT’s products ensuring the right angles, lighting and outcome. Dishes were prepared by the talented Co-Founder Richa, who helped us plate and strategize each shot. This exercise gave us further creative control over generating an outcome that we envisioned through the process.
Expanding the Brand Language
As CURRYiT prepared to launch new product verticals, it was essential to extend the brand’s refreshed design language to maintain recognition and consistency across the product range. When expanding into new product categories, it’s easy for brands to lose their identity adapting for unique product purposes.
However, for CURRYiT, the goal remains to establish a strong, consistent visual identity that would create instant recognition on a cluttered shelf. This consistency also helps build brand loyalty, as customers can immediately identify the brand wherever they might see it.
Learnings and Impact
This project reinforced the idea that packaging design is not just about aesthetics—it’s about crafting a narrative. For a brand like CURRYiT, every design decision needed to be well-researched and meaningfully executed.
Since the launch of their new packaging, CURRYiT has seen noticeable improvements in brand perception, shelf visibility, and customer engagement. The refreshed logo and design language have helped the brand expand into new markets while maintaining the authenticity that makes it stand out.
Through iterative design, cultural storytelling, and strategic brand positioning, we were able to help CURRYiT create a powerful, recognizable identity that resonates with customers globally. Kwazi continues to support the brand’s growth as it expands into new verticals and markets, building on the foundation of trust, authenticity, and premium quality that the packaging now reflects.
