Asian House

60 years after Asian food first arrived in Spain, a new, standardized way to savor and imagine this cuisine is here. Asian House's offering is unique in the market, completely different from what we've found in any of the oriental restaurants in our country until now. And that is a key strategic issue for the business and the brand, and, of course, for its identity.

While they may share some dishes, Asian House is very different from the family-run Chinese establishments, which were the first Asian offering to settle in our cities, characterized by their unique, particular recipes and price differentiation. Nor is it similar to options like Japanese, Korean, or Thai food. For 15 years now, we've had a wide range of Asian options in specialized restaurants and as part of the menus of other establishments with varying price points. This is because sushi, gyozas, and baos, unlike Chinese dishes, have naturally fused with our local recipes. The diversity of options is enormous, but what Asian House proposes has never been done in Spain... with Asian food. Asian House is born as a restaurant chain to standardize and promote its cuisine. A new way to savor and imagine Asian cuisine, one of our favorites, in an easier, more convenient, healthier, and happier way.

Strategy as a driving force

That standardization of flavors that brings us so much comfort in burger, pizza, and poke chains, and that evolution from fast food to "fast good," arrives for the first time in Spain with the Asian House team, featuring Jiaping, Zapeando collaborator and MasterChef Celebrity participant, as its best ambassador.

At Soluble, we are fortunate to have accompanied them from the very beginning, creating an authentic brand strategy hand-in-hand with them, one that speaks the industry's language and understands the business's needs. It's a journey they've just begun, with the launch of their delivery service, and we're driving it forward with a coherent brand universe that further enhances the brand experience at every touchpoint.

Reimagining Asia with Western codes

The project was born to offer a new way to imagine and savor Asian food. This shaped the strategy and was key to building the brand's identity. For the visual identity, this idea translated into a creative concept that would inspire all decisions: reimagining the Asian aesthetic. And doing so, moreover, from an intentionally Western perspective.

One of the most recognizable elements when thinking about Asian food is the menus from Chinese restaurants, with their red lettering and white background. We've all had them in our mailboxes or stuck to our refrigerators. Something so present in our Asian imagination provided an excellent starting point for reimagining. And that's what we did. Instead of avoiding these codes to differentiate the Asian House offering or fighting against the stereotypes we have in the West, we chose to appropriate them and transform them to fit our strategy. Thus, those illustrations of pagodas, the Asian temples we all envision when thinking of the continent, common to almost all Chinese restaurant menus, gave life to the logo.

The importance of home

A logo where the pagoda is westernized, minimalist, like a geometric abstraction integrated into the "h" of "house." It's a subtle, elegant gesture reminiscent of a roof, and which, moreover, in Chinese is the graphic representation of the word "person" (人). Home and person, the two keys to the Asian House experience. This letter and the pagoda's gesture will be further developed in the identity and will serve as the brand's icon.

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From the menus, we reinterpreted many other elements that will become part of our graphic system. We also appropriated the red rectangles that highlight points of attention in traditional Chinese restaurant signage, with their condensed texts. In addition to a visual impact consistent with our creative concept, they will help us make messages more legible against any photographic background we choose in our compositions.

Asian House's proposal, to reimagine Asian flavors, laid out a very clear path to achieve this: the key was that everything had to be easy. This was part of the visual identity in all decisions and radically defined the choice of the brand's color palette. A palette that includes only three colors. Red, a major protagonist of Chinese restaurant menus, reimagined in a brighter, happier tone. Accompanied by a black that isn't entirely black, and a white that isn't entirely white, maximizing readability at all brand touchpoints.

Messages that activate the senses

The typefaces chosen for the Asian House universe also evoke those menus, but with a more modern and Westernized family. We combine a condensed typeface with a rounder, more relaxed one, alternating more relaxed points with others that provide contrast and draw attention.

This graphic system is the perfect framework for communication where we aim to spark desire. Asian House's verbal identity sets the guidelines for brand messages to be clear, adapted to the communication needs of each moment and touchpoint, and always brilliant. With a very rich tone of voice, we enhance enjoyment, playfulness, and a touch of irony. We can be reflective if necessary, but without losing our lightness.

These verbal expression resources also closely follow the brand strategy, and the importance of ease is very present, as is that of enjoyment. Thus, we always address you directly, we want to activate your senses, and now is the time. We will mix languages and use words that help us reimagine flavors, with our own unique palette: Umami Ohmama. Hottie Dokie. We also facilitate with our verbal identity, being consistent and clear when identifying the location of each Asian House restaurant.

And we continue to play, taking inspiration from fortune cookies, we reinterpret proverbs, sayings, and adages from different cultures. We adapt them to show the chill, comfortable, and flavorful side of life. When the weather is bad, miso soup. Little noise and lots of mochi.

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It tastes good, feels good, and looks good

That chill and flavorful side is seen and even felt through the use of photography. We choose images with an analog feel, we zoom in on the dish, and we enhance the use of vibrant, cheerful, saturated colors… adding those text rectangles found in the menus to the compositions.

An entire brand universe for Asian House, formed by elements that are very familiar to us but quickly speak to us of something different, reimagined. A new fast-good experience, where everything is easy, feels good, and makes us feel welcome, comfortable, and happy. In the restaurant, of course, but also at home with our delivery service and at any of the digital touchpoints. From Asian House to the world.