Man Wai Wong: Success with the truth and nothing but
No nonsense design transparency ... that works
April 2, 2020
Man Wai Wong is Design Director at Leo Burnett in Toronto, ON
Man Wai graduated from York University, Toronto and Bauhaus University in Germany. At Leo Burnett Toronto for the past 8 years, she’s risen the ranks from Designer to Design Director. Man Wai’s design work spans branding, print, editorial, experiential, product and motion. She has worked on a diverse range of clients and businesses from low budget start-ups to Fortune 500 corporations. Select clients include Amazon, LCBO, Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto, Metrolinx, Bulk Barn, AAA, UNIQLO, Bell, and TD. She has been domestically and internationally award by D&AD, the One Show, the Clios, Graphis, Gestalten, the Advertising & Design Club of Canada, Marketing, Applied Arts, Communication Arts, Dieline, and Counter Print, among others.
All of that made Man Wai a natural choice to judge our 2020 Design Awards, which she is currently busy doing. But more telling about her capabilities, versatility and design sensibilities is her choice of project to share with our readers. Rather than the big-budget, big-name clients, she sent us a recent project that is deceptively simple and speaks to the ingenuity of a designer trained in Bauhaus thinking.
Project: Grinning Face Coconut Milk
"Because Grinning Face Coconut Milk is fresh pressed from only two ingredients – coconut and water – and doesn’t use any stabilizers or gums, it naturally separates. Instead of hiding the separation like other nut-based milks that typically use milk cartons, we celebrated it with a design that puts the separation right in plain sight, using jumbled letters to educate and encourage the consumer to shake it. The white letters on the clear bottle brings out the rich, creamy coconut milk inside while reflecting the brand’s minimal approach to ingredients. The result was a design that leaps off the shelf, boldly embracing what other brands have kept hidden."
"With no advertising and no media dollars, our approach was to make the bottle design the ad. It’s through this design transparency that the brand has struck a chord with consumers and retail buyers alike, helping make the launch of Grinning Face Coconut Milk a huge success."