Heirloom

Student Project / 2018-2019

A home meal kit delivery service brand that teaches how to prepare traditional meals from around the world.

Problem Space

Many Americans love ordering pad Thai, Indian chicken tikka masala, Mexican tamales, and Japanese sushi from local international restaurants around the corner. But how many people know the historical context and cultural importance behind these meals? Whether they are authentic to that country’s way of preparing the dish? How to prepare if themselves?

While there is a large interest in consuming international cuisine, many Americans don’t know the history behind the international meals, how to prepare them, or how to broaden their horizons to foods from another culture.

Solution

At Heirloom, every country would be represented by a recipe and a meal box. Customers will not only learn how to prepare traditional meals from across the world, but will have the opportunity to dive deeper and learn about the meal’s background and the country’s food culture. From the moment users open up a country’s meal for the night, to the time they sit down to eat it, they should feel as if they’ve been there, experiencing and preparing a truly authentic meal from across the world.

The Brand

Heirloom takes a unique spin in the home meal kit delivery service arena. While many of these services focus on “fresh,” “healthy,” or “chef-inspired,” Heirloom focuses on “worldly,” “authentic,” and “educational.” As the tagline suggests, the purpose is to bring world recipes to the home. With this brand concept, I sought to create a unique experience for users to delve into another food culture, even if just for one meal, to open up their minds and stomachs to other international foods.

The Shipping Box

This box will be the first thing users interact with when they come home to find this on their front porch. I wanted to hit home the branding with this box, placing the logo large and centered on two faces of the box with different “stamps” that list some of Heirloom’s recipes and their consecutive countries. On the side, users can read the meaning behind Heirloom’s name as well as it’s mission statement:

At Heirloom, our mission is for you to broaden your food horizons by offering recipes of traditional meals from around the world. From the moment you open up that country’s meal to cook for the night, to the time you sit down to eat it, you should feel as if you’ve shared in an authentic meal and cooking experience from this place

The Meal Kit Packages

To show a system that the brand would use across the many recipes it would have, I chose to design for three meal kit boxes. After finding three reliable resources–Felix from Germany, Bac Loan from Vietnam, and Tasneem Aunty from India–I interviewed them and asked for them to select a meal that they would consider a staple traditional meal from their city or region within their home country. After learning how they make it, and doing ample research on these three countries’ food cultures and traditions, I created their unique packages with illustrations that introduce users to these places.