We’re massive fans of The Working Assembly here at PRINT, a New York creative agency that champions small, women-founded, and BIPOC-led businesses. Helmed by founder and Head of Creative Jolene Delisle, The Working Assembly operates with a clear-eyed mission and strong moral compass guiding their projects and the clients they work with.
One of their most recent branding projects was creating the look and feel for a line of Asian-inspired tea lattes, Narra, founded by siblings Miggy and Victoria Reyes. They were keen on embracing their Southeast Asian heritage not only in their product, but in the branding as well. “Narra is the national tree of the Philippines, both resilient and strong; we wanted to encapsulate that into the branding,” said Delisle in a press release. “We love working with emerging companies that have such clear vision right off the bat, and the Reyes are a perfect example of clients who are able to align their values with what they are trying to achieve with their brand in such a seamless, symbiotic way.”
The Working Assembly team had an inspired idea to incorporate the Filipino tradition of weaving and textile-making into the Narra brand identity. “We reinterpreted the banig— a traditional handwoven mat— by creating patterns resembling the square tiles of the handwoven designs and combining them with modern illustrations,” said designer Erika Romanczuk in a press release. “We used these combinations throughout the brand system, from the can designs to the website.”
Delisle and co. extended the colors and illustrations designed for the product to the Narra website they created in tandem, integrating hover effects and an unscrambling illustration game in the site footer. The tone of these playful hues and motifs comes through in the copy as well, which sets Narra apart from most other brands in the tear category. “So many other canned lattes lean into a refined tone that can feel inaccessible,” said Erik Poh, Senior Copywriter. “As soon as we tried Narra, we knew it needed a more playful voice to match its light and delightful flavor.”
Narra is officially hitting stores this summer, just in time for sunny beach days and park picnics with pals.