Start-up Cookma‘s foundation was poured by entrepreneur Lisa Chatham, who launched the brand after having followed an intense personal discovery of Ayurvedic principles and approach to nourishing new mothers. As a new parent herself and noticing that much of the post-birth attention goes to the baby, Chatham — who previously founded catering business Green Heart Foods — worked on developing a new, parent-centered brand, delivering products that equip mindful parents with some tools and resources they need to make the postpartum period more comfortable.
Chatham says: “Modern cultures don’t recognize the importance of caring for a woman after childbirth the way we did traditionally. Pregnancy is about the mother, while post-birth tends to focus on the baby. The Ayurvedic approach considers the void that is left when the baby leaves the body and fills this space with nourishment. It is this approach of holistic nutrition that I want to share.”
With genes influenced by the Ayurveda wisdom and hoping to be one of the first choices parents turn to when considering premium postpartum wellness products, the meal delivery service and product line thought that what better way to express its roots and goals than through its own looks? Reaching out to design studio Landscape, Cookma “cooked” a vibrant brand identity that not only celebrates the postpartum period but also speaks about the start-up’s core principles of honesty and beauty in visual terms that please the eyes and the mind of the viewer.
Adam Weiss, Founder and Creative Director at Landscape, comments: “By providing nourishing and meaningful meals catering specifically to new mothers and birth-parents, Cookma is bridging a crucial gap in the parenting experience, and we’re proud to have created a design that doesn’t just articulate the vitality of Cookma’s service, but celebrates the unique postpartum period through warm, uplifting design.”
The founder’s goal was to build a company with the brand in mind, acknowledging the important role design plays in building a business. “I previously spent 12 years building a 4-million-dollar business, but without much initial thought to brand identity, with no plan, structure, strategy, messaging,” she explains. “I wanted Cookma to have the focus, the guide rails, the ability to grow that a good brand identity can provide. Investment in design was something I felt was essential.”
Cookma inhales the Ayurveda wisdom and exhales a calm visual design. As such, a color palette with earthly tones was chosen, to which the San-Francisco-based agency added “a system of radiating glows, timeless typography, tactile materials, and richly toned photography — these elements harmonize together to convey the feeling of inner warmth and joy Cookma seeks to nourish in these early, intimate moments of new parenthood,” explains Mackenzie Brookshire, Landscape Creative Director.
The primary color palette draws inspiration from the founder’s way of cooking — with rich spices and plants. The glowing elements were chosen keeping the colors of the earth, air, fire, and water in mind while suggesting the three doshas — vata, kapha, and pitta. The color palette, alongside a sophisticated — yet unpretentious — choice of typeface (Louize Display), makes Brookshire think of Cookma as “an intimate and tactile experience that invites a sense of calm, warmth, joy, and a love for learning more about your body and motherhood.”
While working on the project, the brand strategy studio’s founder, Weiss, had just become a proud father. His partner, an old friend of Chatham’s, tried out prototypes for the service. As such, the Cookma brand is infused with not only Chatham’s vision but with Weiss’ own family’s experience with the brand’s products and the postpartum period.
“It’s a precious and vital time — but one that can also leave families feeling isolated and unsupported,” concludes Weiss. “For that reason, I’m incredibly proud that our design aids Cookma in shedding light on, supporting — and infusing warmth into — these formative moments in life.”
Credits:
Client: Cookma
Agency: Landscape