Wagamama | From Bowl to Soul

The first Wagamama restaurant opened in London in 1992, set-up by Alan Yau inspired by Japanese noodle bars and with a desire to bring Pan Asian food to a new casual dining experience.

30 years on, the restaurant scene has evolved massively, with far greater choice worldwide catching up to this once‑pioneering brand.

We were tasked with refreshing the brand at a key moment in its growth, aimed at sharpening the brand positioning and visual identity and bringing to the fore what made the brand so special when it first launched.

The name Wagamama translates as ‘the Naughty Child’ so our aim was to bring back some of this playful spirit that made the brand so unique and would go on to redefine the brands personality.

This playful approach was brought to life using collage and making use of a hand drawn typeface that reference how orders are taken by writing directly on the placemats. This is then combined with beautifully shot photography of the food with B&W lifestyle and behind the scenes imagery that brought to life the vibrancy of the food and the restaurant.

The final deliverables included an updated toolkit and guidelines including brand strategy.