Oceanic Sushi Roll

A seal that reads two ways — a slice of salmon, and the sea it came out of.

Sector: Japanese Kitchen
Services: Branding, Packaging, Art Direction
Year: 2025

“Heritage rolled with adventure.”

The brief

Sushi branding is a choice between two clichés.

Japanese food design usually picks one of two lanes: reverent minimalism — beige, brushstrokes, a lot of empty space — or full neon-Tokyo pastiche. Neither fits a kitchen serving bold, modern rolls to people who want the food to look as loud as it tastes. The brief was a third option: rooted in Japanese craft, but with the volume up.

The idea

One mark, two readings.

The seal is a circle holding a nigiri slice above three stacked waves. Look at it as food and it's a cross-section of a roll; look at it as landscape and it's the ocean the fish came from. That double reading is the whole identity — heritage in the form, adventure in the colour. The wave motif then becomes a repeating red-and-blue band that runs across every pack, so the system extends without ever repeating the logo.

The outcome

A brand that survives a tray, a billboard and a chopstick sleeve.

Electric blue against vermilion and cream, applied across takeaway trays with printed wave bands, chopstick sleeves and kraft wrappers, receipts, posters, a billboard, stickers and staff apparel — plus a named product range with the Blue Band Roll leading it. Ocean-fresh flavours, straight from Japan.