Native Leaf

Native Leaf is an English brand that brings the best yerba mate of South America to Europe. The entrepreneurs are Syrians and the job was done by Labis Design here in Brazil, through Brand Language Design. More global than that, it’s impossible.

The goal of the manifesto was to narrate the history and importance of yerba mate and the valorisation of an ancestral tradition. Furthermore, the great differential of the product is that it comes directly from nature, and for this healthy. All these messages had to be said in an emotional, direct and involving way.

The concept “each day gets a little better” has a double meaning. The yerba mate is bitter, but it is only a matter of habit: it improves day by day, until you get to love its taste! At the same time it is a plant that has multiple beneficial properties. The brand has an optimistic attitude and believes that everyday can be better.

The yerba mate range, containing the 4 flavors – Original, Organic, Citrus and Apple & Pear -, was developed with the goal to create a modern, organic, flexible and natural identity. The job of illustration results from the good balance between exuberance and seriousness, highlighting every element enough to be expressive, but not too detailed and artistic.

The mix of colors of the illustrations creates a unique movement and reveal a tropical atmosphere, with different combinations and contrasts, that symbolize the variations of altitude and other characteristics of South America, along with the main ingredients of each blend.

The hierarchy of information is one of the key principles of design and we have studied what it would has been the best distribution in order to guide the reading of the people. For this reason, priority was given to the product name, flavor and logo of Native Leaf followed by the tagline “From South America”, being careful that the graphic elements were balanced and in harmony with the reading. The final result is a simple and minimalist packaging line, which follow the same layout and the same visual structure, with a leaves pattern on the both lateral sides parts, which lead the attention of the people to the essential in a clear, objective and pleasant way during the purchase.

We opted for a vintage all-type logo, with a thin curve to the bottom of the letters and with a yerba mate leaf to the top. This choice offers a classic look that remember the old characters used in yerba mate barrels. At the same time it is contemporary, very suitable for the positioning of the brand, which promotes the cultural exchange, bringing an incredible leaf from South America to Europe.

Following the same idea of the logo, we used Crafter as the main font, a very versatile font, which was inspired by vintage metal plates and – for the fact that it is more geometric – bring the contemporary to the project without losing the charm of the classic.