Studio Chenchen worked with NewFish to establish a clear brand strategy and put it into action. After getting to know the business, we identified the name NewFish and proposed a brand architecture to best suit the company’s unique character and growth trajectory.



At the corporate level, the NewFish brand emphasises a futuristic technological engagement with organic marine systems. The design shows a mechanically inspired typeface paired with a cold colour palette that’s been abstracted from natural oceanic hues. The emphasis at this level of the brand speaks to NewFish’s corporate drive to become a food-tech start-up that popularises algal-based proteins and uses strategic seafood systems acupuncture to support the marine environment.

At the product level, NewFish needed to showcase its seafood creations in a rich and enticing way. NewFish’s first product, the Pāua Saucisson, is an iconic new concept invented by NewFish’s creative director, and New Zealand’s best chef, Vaughan Mabee.

At this level of the brand, organic influences come to the fore, drawing on precedents in traditional seafood cultures, a neo-romantic mindset, and the emotion that comes with food.

The bold red colour connects the brand to its target markets in Asia and the bespoke typography was inspired by the shapes of sails in traditional fishing vessels, drawing on the shared aesthetics of seafaring cultures from Aotearoa to Asia.

The mechanic-organic concept was applied across a variety of devices to complete the brand’s visual language and solidify the link between the corporate and product applications: a bespoke icon is made from 魚 which is shared across Asian cultures as a symbol for fish or seafood; product typography is reorganised into an animated frame that gives a similar impression to a kelp forest; and a stylised illustration of the three groups of macroalgae from species found in New Zealand gives a digitally skewed impression of the organic forms of nature.