Nostalgae
Brand Identity
2025
BACKGROUNDBased in Philadelphia, Nostalgae is a Korean fine dining restaurant that specializes in seaweed cuisine. The name is a combined word of “nostalgia” and “algae”. Through nostalgia, it expresses a feeling of reminiscence over a bowl of warm food that creates memorable experiences. Algae is a bigger term for seaweed and similar phonetics to “alji”, or meaning “to know” in Korean, which focuses on bringing more knowledge and breaking the perception of seaweed cuisine especially to Western audiences.
DESIGNNostalgae has five key seaweed types that are being used in their dish: wakame, kelp, hijiki, seaweed fulvescens, and laver. The colours resemble that of the actual algae category: brown, green, or red. The serif is used as the main typeface to emphasize the seaweed’s flexible forms. The system of vertical menus as well as stacked typography act as motifs for the elevations in the sea. The illustrations create a personalized and crafted touch.
PROJECTStudent (MFA)
Mentor: Ellen Lupton
Illustrator
Fresco
InDesign
Photoshop