The market for health and wellness supplements has exploded in recent years. Despite this, one of the oldest forms of alternative medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, remains little known about in the US in particular.

Founded by Stephanie Tan, new supplement brand Nooci is hoping to bridge this gap for western audiences. The Hong Kong-born, US-educated entrepreneur is hoping to make traditional Chinese medicine-based supplements more accessible for consumers.

Tan brought in New York-based creative agency Smakk to create a brand identity for Nooci that would embrace its Chinese heritage, while also highlighting the company’s transparent sourcing of ingredients and products, strict manufacturing, sustainable mission and welcoming philosophy.

“Nooci was on a mission to make traditional Chinese medicine accessible to all, and that meant detailing what goes into producing the supplements and how they really impact wellness,” says Smakk founder, Katie Klencheski.

“Far from some shrouded process, Stephanie meticulously sources herbs globally – carefully selecting the right time-honoured ingredients. Our work had to highlight this, as well as reference its science-backed research and herbal extraction technologies to show where Nooci fit in along a modern customer’s wellness journey.”

Smakk developed the brand strategy, messaging and overall visual identity, balancing a modern aproach with older visual cues. The brand mark, for instance, is an abstract representation of yin and yang, an important symbol in traditional Chinese medicine.

Sans serif typography is used to balance some of the more traditional aspects of the identity and the colour palette is vibrant and bright overall but grounded in some earthier tones, such as sienna brown.

The agency also developed product naming conventions to provide a sense of unity across the product line and communicate the benefits of each product – from ReNoo for Women’s Longevity to Noo Moon for Menstrual Support.

A suite of icons represents different categories of plant-based ingredients found in Nooci’s herbal supplements, which are illustrated in a more organic and fluid way than typical iconography. These icons are used across packaging and online in order to help consumers understand the products quickly.

The brand’s focus on natural elements also extends to the packaging; both Noo Moon and Noo Air come in a reusable glass jar to eliminate plastic waste, and the refill packet is made from 100% recyclable materials.

smakkstudios.com