Case Study
WOKLY
Wokly was our first take on branding. Wokly is our vision of meal services that contain authentic Asian cuisine with our attempt to bring sustainability beyond just packaging, by bringing it within our diet with the implementation of cricket and insect as protein choices.
Type
Branding & Product
Focus
Sustainability & Identity
Deliverable
Style Guide + Prototype
Prototype
Figma →
Impact at a glance
Authentic cuisine. Honest sustainability.
Problem
Busy people sacrifice nutritious, diverse meals for convenience; meal kits add packaging waste and lack authentic Asian cuisine and sustainable protein options.
Approach
Brand strategy, user research, journey mapping, and visual identity to position an Asian meal service with sustainable packaging and protein choices.
Outcome
A full brand (WOKLY), style guide, and solution concepts for landing, preferences, and meals, bringing authentic Asian cuisine to the doorstep with sustainability in mind.
Overview
Convenience at the cost of the planet
For college students and those who are working around the clock, we have little time on our hands for adequate self-care. Time is one of the most important non-renewable resources.
For people who are always hustling, we tend to sacrifice eating nutritiously good food. Cooking can be a chore and making a healthy and tasty meal is more time-consuming.
So we opted for pre-made or ready-made meal services at the convenience of our fingertips. However, these services lack diversity in cuisine available. In addition, the amount of waste produced (two packs of landfill insulators, three packs of non-recyclable ice packs, six plastic containers every week) means the alternative of clean and convenient meals comes at the cost of our planet.
Process
Research to style guide
We kick-started the project with desk research, formulated an interview guide and script, and analyzed the data to create user journey maps and personas. We built a prototype from those insights and finally designed a style guide to hand off to future developers.
Area of opportunity
Ready-made meals and culturally responsive cuisine are underserved, and Wokly occupies both.
Sustainability gap
No competitor offered locally sourced ingredients with sustainable insect protein options.
Competitive analysis
Finding the white space
Freshly offers a competitive service focused on convenient and nutritious meal kits. SunBasket offers a more culturally responsive alternative. We found opportunities around ready-made meals and culturally responsive cuisine. We want to tackle sustainability by bringing locally sourced ingredients and giving people the option to choose a more sustainable alternative with insect protein and veggie-friendly meals.
Research
What people actually told us
Visual Relevance
People tend to only read the most relevant information when shopping.
"I am allergic to peanuts so I spend a long time going through the ingredients on the back."
Opportunity: Present the most relevant information to be the most visible.
Flexibility
Many people complained about size limitations in competitor meal services.
"I think Freshly is a waste of money, they send you so little food."
Opportunity: Design a service where flexibility on preference and portion is a distinct feature.
Sustainability in labels
People overlook sustainability when purchasing food because they are uncertain if they are making an impact.
"I care about sustainability, but it's hard to make it a priority sometimes."
Opportunity: Wokly can focus on being as transparent as possible.
Power of Branding
People make purchase decisions based on branding and aesthetics.
"If the packaging is beautiful, I will buy it, I am a sucker for packaging."
Opportunity: Focus on strong and beautiful branding for Wokly.
Personas
Who we designed for
Three distinct personas shaped our decisions, from the time-pressed grad student to the health-conscious professional who cares about what goes into their body.
Primary persona
Busy, health-conscious, and time-poor. Convenience is the primary driver, but sustainability is a secondary motivator.
Journey
User Journey Map
I mapped out the experience to have a better understanding of how the person would interact with the proposed solution and why the interaction would be meaningful or successful.
To create the customer journey we decided to purchase from Freshly and focus on the areas when our overall experience dropped the most. We realized that the areas that our experience was less than pleasant started at the very beginning: a forced weekly commitment and waiting anxiously with no visibility into where our meal was.
Brand strategy
Core Values: Clean · Authentic · Honest
Before
Generic name and no visual identity. Could have been any meal service.
After
WOKLY: a distinctive, memorable brand anchored in Asian cuisine and transparent sustainability.
Brand positioning
Sliders defined where Wokly sits on key axes, helping the team make consistent visual and voice decisions.
Differentiation
Positioned toward authentic, minimal, and sustainable, deliberately away from mass-market competitors.
Style guide
A complete design system
The style guide for Wokly contains a color system, photography, type system, illustration guide, icons, and components to recreate the product.
Type system
A paired serif and sans-serif system that balances warmth with clarity across all touchpoints.
Components
Reusable component library ready for handoff to development.
Solution
Landing, preferences, and meals
The solution covers three core screens: landing, preference selection, and the meals view, each designed to feel clean, authentic, and transparent.
Preference selection
Users choose their dietary preferences, cuisine interest, and protein choices, including sustainable insect protein.
Transparency first
Every preference shows the environmental impact, making sustainability a visible part of the decision.
Order flow
A streamlined checkout that eliminates the forced commitment model of competitor services.
Next steps
More to validate.
User testing, conduct more user research, and develop more user flows.