Johnathan Jiang
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Brand & identity system

away

2024.2 — 2024.5

Just a little bit longer.

away — packaging system: drawstring scent bags, handkerchief, and fridge magnet laid out with floral line-art prints

away is a brand built on a quiet idea: that acknowledging the withering of an object or an experience can empower people to grow and thrive — to move through loss rather than around it. The identity grew out of the withering flower itself, turning the form, the fade, and the lowered head into a mark, a typeface, and a set of objects that let you sit with something just a little bit longer.

Scope

Role
Brand & visual designer
Project type
Branding & visual identity
Timeline
2024.2 — 2024.5
Tools
Photoshop, Illustrator, solar print
Deliverables
Logotype · visual language · packaging · posters & communications

Withering flowers

Have you ever bought flowers and put them in a vase, only to notice they wither within such a short time? This project uses branding to explore how acknowledging that withering process — of an object or an experience — can empower people to grow and thrive.

Withered dark-red roses, petals curled and dried, photographed close and full-frame
The same roses in full bloom — fresh from the store, deep and saturated

What nature does

I used to feel sentimental about flowers withering so quickly. But I gradually began to find beauty in this natural process, and to acknowledge the solemn, poetic power of loss.

Gather elements

To better visualize this process, I bought fresh flowers from the store and began documenting the withering — frame by frame — then combined the photographs with Photoshop techniques.

Form making

Solar prints

Form making started with solar prints (cyanotype) — laying the withering plants on light-sensitive paper and letting the sun draw their silhouettes. Each exposure records the form as a soft white ghost on blue.

Solar print — a cluster of lily blooms and leaves as a white silhouette on deep blue Solar print — two branching stems with buds and small flowers Solar print — a tall flowering stalk with layered leaves Solar print — a small tree-like sprig with rounded blooms Solar print — long willow leaves fanned across the frame

From sun to Photoshop

I then replicated that sun-bleached texture in Photoshop and applied it to the flowers that make up the brand identity — delicate white line-work with the same soft, exposed quality, carried across every surface the brand touches.

Line-art chrysanthemum — dense petals drawn in fine grey contours Line-art poinsettia — textured leaves with traces of blue and yellow Line-art roses — a loose cluster of open blooms Line-art rosebud — a closed bud bowing on its stem Line-art petal — a single crumpled petal in fine texture Line-art bloom — a jagged open flower with dark contour edges

Merch design

The brand lives on small drawstring scent bags — each printed with the floral line-art, the mark, the tagline, and a "sell by" date that quietly reminds you nothing lasts forever. The objects invite you to keep something fragrant and fading just a little bit longer.

Three drawstring scent bags side by side, each printed with a different floral line-art
Rose scent bag — pink rose line-art print on natural cotton Chrysanthemum scent bag — yellow chrysanthemum line-art print Poinsettia scent bag — red poinsettia line-art print
Back of the scent bag — mark, tagline, barcode, and the sell-by date Early sewn prototype — the away wordmark stitched onto a folded envelope of printed fabric
Handkerchief — chrysanthemum line-art printed on fabric with its label Fridge magnet package — the away mark on a flat pack with tagline and barcode
Four t-shirts on hangers — the away mark and floral line-art prints Four tote bags — the away mark and floral line-art prints on natural canvas

In context

Beyond the products, the system extends to posters and exhibition communications — the line-art flowers paired with the tagline and show details, carrying the same quiet voice into space.

Two exhibition posters pinned side by side — floral line-art with 'Just a little bit longer' and show details
Poster detail — chrysanthemum line-art behind the tagline in embossed type Brand stationery — away envelopes on the floral pattern paper
Highway billboard at dusk — the away mark and 'Just a little bit longer' over a mountain line drawing

Poster detail · stationery · the voice carried all the way up to a billboard.

More branding
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sheep — brand →

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