MoWaan received a Gold Prize from Taokae Tid Dao Awards for Branding. The awards, launched by Entrepreneur Channel, Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion (OSMEP), Kasikorn Bank and the College of Management at Mahidol University (CMMU), recognize brands that excel in 5 categories; Self-sufficiency Economy, Branding, Innovation, CSR and Determined Entrepreneur
MoWaan, a traditional Thai herbal medicine brand, engaged Midnite Oil as the design director and consultant to carry out the branding redesign project. Phasinee Yanotai, the current owner and great granddaughter of Dr. Waan, decided to rebrand the more than 100 year old Thai medicinal products formulated by the founder. Her key objective is to preserve the Thai knowledge of herbal medicine created by her great grandfather who lived during 1868-1945 and to continue the unique legacy he established. She insisted the rebrand must maintain MoWaan's individuality, his principles of healing as well as the look and feel of media design during her great grandfather's period.
In crafting and creating the new MoWann brand, historical documents preserved in Dr. Waan's residence and clinic - Bamroong Chaat Satsanaa Yathai - were researched. In addition, his personal belongings and possessions including his living environment and the tools used to make medicines for his patients were carefully studied in order to gain inspiration from the origins of his practice.
As a result, MoWaan logo is derived from signage of the doctor’s home clinic. Package labels came from original medicine labels written by Dr. Waan. The packaging design is inspired by a lacquer box, received as a gift from a princess, daughter of Prince of Devavongse Varoprakarn whom Dr. Waan cured of a persistent ailment. The main typeface and language used are typical of the period of King Rama VI when Dr. Waan lived and practiced medicine.
In order for MoWaan rebrand to achieve an image to match its spirit in traditional Thai medicine of the Rama VI era, Midnite Oil recreated Wasitthee typeface taken from many of the doctor's old prescriptions found in the archives at Bamroong Chaat Satsanaa Yathai. Wasitthee has the distinct look of an old time Thai font with irregular letter space in addition to being text that does not sit perfectly on the same baseline when typeset. These characteristics of "imperfection" in typesetting were common in letterpress printing which was widely used during the period.
Design Hive, an ergonomic solutions and designer furniture store that features famous trade names including XO by Starck, HumanScale and Caimi, opens its first showroom and office at Crystal Design Center (CDC). CDC is the latest opulent shopping center specifically for brand name design furniture and decorative items in Thailand.
In designing the showroom for Design Hive, Midnite Oil focused on how to attract customers from a distance and when they get closer the realization that Design Hive features both design furniture as well as "ergonomic solutions" is apparent.
To achieve this colorful design furniture from XO is placed in a key spot to catch the eye of passing foot traffic from a distance. Close up customers then glimpse ergonomic chairs and furniture through the vibrant foreground of window displays. Once inside the shop wall painting and illustrations describe the stories and concepts of ergonomic solutions.
The shop color scheme of grey black and white not only matches the brand personality of Design Hive, but is highly appropriate for specific design products. The use of neutral colors in the showroom emphasizes the products and allows them to stand out from the background.
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