BRANDING
THE CHANGE,
HOW DO I WORK?
mukakasa
embracing
opposing
cultures
IDENTITY | CREATIVE CONCEPT | CREATIVE DIRECTION | ART DIRECTION | WEBSITE DESIGN
The driving force behind the lifestyle brand Mukakasa is Christine Mukakasa, a stylish fashion specialist with a great eye for detail. She founded Mukakasa with her sister. Born to a Ugandan father and a Danish mother, the sisters grew up with the two cultures and learned how to embrace opposing cultures and traditions. It has been a long-held dream of Christine's to honor Uganda's heritage and traditional crafts, and design curated collections. Which will ultimately facilitate financial security for Ugandan local communities and create jobs and education.
Mukakasa is in its founding phase. The first prototypes have arrived in the Amsterdam Studio. A visual identity, including photography and website design, should be developed. It should reflect the richness of African heritage and the purity of Scandinavian design.
Mukakasa's mission is clear; Scandinavian design made in Uganda to preserve African heritage & crafts and to support local communities. The challenge is that the brand must feel high quality, desirable, lively, aesthetic, Scandinavian, African, and handmade. This is without being pushed into the stuffiness, boring, somewhat predictable fair trade corner.
​
Opposites attract each other, so for both worlds to match, a counterverse light aesthetic Scandinavian (digital) environment is created, showcasing the dark handmade African craftsmanship. The website gets a clean graphic appearance. The customer journey focuses mainly on the product itself but also gives room for its underlying mission. The white background refers to the Scandinavian light. The font is Arial, a well-known modern San-serif font that can be read worldwide. In this case, it is used big and bold which gives the products even more attention.
The first batch of Mukakasa's products consists mainly of black pottery. This stoneware is known for the unorthodox way in which it is made. It literally gets burned while baking. In photography, this rebelliousness is further strengthened by choosing a black background. Inspired by African culture and to emphasize the combined design, the power of stacking is used in Art Direction. Because just by doing that, the mix of both worlds, and the beauty of imperfections, become even more noticeable.
Yes, a new identity for Mukakasa is born! www.mukakasa.com
