King of Fruits is a fun personal project I did over the course of a day. I wanted to create a brand and make some logos as well as product mock-ups. I chose durian fruit as a product since it is the national fruit of my home country, and I wanted to create something that relates to my own culture.
The slogan "Not What You'd Expect" came from the idea that there's a huge separation of those who love and hate durians. Some say it's subtly sweet and custardy. Some say it smells and tastes like hot garbage. I'm personally a durian lover and I think there are different ways to enjoy the fruit. However, I've been seeing a lot of bias towards the fruit especially on Social Media such as on my Instagram reel feeds. In some cases, the influencer is already grossed out before trying it. This makes me think a lot about Westerners' bias towards Asian food that might be pungent or unfamiliar to them. For months after I first came to the US, rice crispy treats were my only lunch food because I was afraid that my Thai food would be stinky to other kids.
"It's not what you'd expect" is something I'd want to say now, since you never know whether you'll love or hate something unless you give it a try.
For the logo, I wanted to focus on the spiky motif that the durian fruit is known for. I also incorporated some Thai line works into the milk tea package design. Both durian and tea are both from SE Asia.
