Cup Noodles by Janet Lee

Derrick Lin

Global

Designer: Janet Lee
Project Type: Student Project
School: Chicago Portfolio School
Location: Chicago, IL
Packaging Contents: Instant Noodle
Packaging Substrate / Materials: Styrofoam, aluminum, cardboard
Printing Process: Screen printing

Cup Noodles is the original instant noodle that was first created by Momofuku Ando and put in a cup for the U.S. in 1972. Ando innovated instant noodles after he witnessed the Japanese food shortage after WWII. He believed noodles could cure world hunger, and Cup Noodles has reached shelves all around the world today.

The Cup Noodles brand is the pioneer of instant noodles and has provided new innovations for three generations. The current brand design has a curvy serifed type and a traditional red, gold, and white color scheme. The current rebrand is designed to upgrade the brand to represent the imaginative and innovative story of Cup Noodles. The brighter colors and the modernized type will allow the brand to showcase it’s creative story to a new generation.

The packaging is inspired by both the simplicity of Japanese design and the wild creativity and innovation of Momofuku Ando. Cup Noodles is imaginative but not childish; bright but not tacky; innovative but not untested; simple but not plain; passionate but not serious; and original but not outdated.

The bold, red brandmark harkens back to Cup Noodle’s Japanese heritage and is inspired by Japanese seals which are used in lieu of signatures to show authorship. The black and white hand-done illustrations tell the unique story of Cup Noodle as the first instant noodle with the creative energy of the brand. These free-flowing illustrations are juxtaposed with the simple, clean vector icons on the lids and box. Iconography has been designed for simplicity and easy identification of the different flavors of Cup Noodles.

What’s Unique?
The packaging uses both hand drawn elements with clean vector images to tell the unique story of the brand.