When the Chinese Canadian Museum asked us to help launch a gift shop inside the historic Wing Sang building on Pender Street, we knew from the start that this wasn’t a typical retail branding project.
The Wing Sang building is the oldest standing structure in Vancouver’s Chinatown. It was built in 1889 by Yip Sang, a merchant, community leader, and one of the most significant figures in early Chinese Canadian history. Any brand we created would need to live up to that legacy.
Introducing 1889 Trading Co.
We named the shop after the year Yip Sang established the original Wing Sang Company, a trading house that connected communities across continents from this very address. The name does more than reference history. It positions the shop as a continuation of what that building has always been: a place of exchange, culture, and community.
From there, we built a complete visual identity system. The logomark features a custom numeral lockup where the two 8s interlock to form an infinity symbol: a nod to the cultural significance of eight as a number of prosperity and good fortune. Scalloped seal icons, custom illustrations, and patterns drawn from traditional textiles and architecture round out a system that feels rooted without feeling like a museum artifact.
The full identity spans retail signage, bilingual applications, packaging, event posters, social media templates, and a brand guidelines document the museum team can carry forward independently.
As Vancouver locals, it’s one of the most meaningful projects we’ve worked on to date,
→ View the full project
1889 Trading Co. Case Study
Every year, the RGD Branding Awards recognizes some of the strongest brand identity work from around the world. When we were invited to design the campaign for the 2025 edition, the brief was technically simple: create the visual identity for the awards.
Knowing that the audience was essentially other designers made the challenge more interesting (and a little scary).
The work would be seen by designers, judged by designers, and celebrated by designers. People who spend their days evaluating brand systems, typography, and craft. The identity needed to hold up under that kind of scrutiny while still feeling bold enough to represent the awards themselves.
Our starting point was perspective.
At the center of the identity is a geometric cube that reveals the letters R, G, and D depending on how it’s viewed. Rotate the form and the letter changes. Shift the angle and new shapes appear. A single object becomes multiple viewpoints.
That idea expanded into a full visual system built from modular blocks. The geometry can frame imagery, create patterns, or move through motion depending on the context. Posters, social graphics, stage visuals, and digital assets all grow from the same structure.
The result is a system that stays consistent while constantly changing its perspective.
A fitting framework for an awards program that celebrates the many ways designers see the world.
→ View the full project
RGD Branding Awards Case Study
Another year of Vancouver International Film Festivals is approaching, and we’re proud to be on board as creative partners yet again.
Building on some of the visual cues we’ve developed over the years, we began exploring what could serve as a core concept for 2025.
The idea of VIFF as a bridge came up in our last meeting – a way of connecting us to cinema from around the world. This really resonated on a few levels. We saw it as a powerful symbol: different elements coming together, creating pathways, and forming a passage from one place to another – both literally and emotionally.
You can find the full program on the VIFF website – see you at the theatres!
ZAK partners Zia and Kristian are excited to have been invited to speak at on October 1st at Design Thinkers Toronto. The whole team will be jetting across the country for a trip to engage in a couple days of design inspiration, research, and of course libations.
Their talk, Creative OS: The Soft Stuff is the Hard Stuff, explores the hidden systems behind every great project: trust, communication, and emotional labour.
They’ll dig into the human side of creative work – the soft skills that run the show but rarely get the spotlight. From treating tension as a sign of investment to building trust without burning out, they’ll show how relationships shape ideas, guide decisions, and keep teams creatively alive.
Because in the end, who you work with matters just as much as what you make.
You can find out more about Design Thinkers and their talk here. Hope to see you there!
Everyone at ZAK has been a longtime reader of The Brand Identity, so seeing our work featured alongside studios we admire is a proud moment.
If you’re curious to learn more about our process, and what went into the Ronan Space Systems branding, check out the full article on The Brand Identity.
Every designer knows the pain of putting together work for your portfolio, so we’re happy to say that we’ve just uploaded 6(!) new case studies, outlining some of our favourite projects from the last year.
Check out the work below!
Ronan Space Systems
Kind Stranger Productions
Culturally Defined
SitkaWest Builders
Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) 2024
UMYUM Foods
We’re super excited to announce that our packaging design for UMYUM has received an Applied Arts award in the packaging design category. We’re thrilled to be recognized for a client who has instilled a lot of trust and us, and has pushed us to do some really interesting work within a plant-based market that is often quite conservative.
More on this soon, but make sure to snag some UMYUM butter at your nearest Whole Foods.
We’re excited to share that we’ve been selected as the official design partner for the 2025 RGD Branding Awards! This project gave us the rare chance to create design for design’s sake—pushing creative boundaries while crafting a campaign that encourages designers to put their best work forward.
Our concept, “Show Your Perspective,” became the foundation of the campaign’s visual language, serving as a metaphor for the unique ways designers see the world. From there, we built out a flexible brand system encompassing typography, motion, 3D, and more.
There’s much more to come, but for now—the call for entries is officially open. Let’s see your perspective.
Excited to finally share one of our favorite projects from this year—Passport Pantry! This Toronto-based granola brand is reinventing the breakfast staple with globally inspired flavors and a commitment to clean, nourishing ingredients.
We partnered with Passport Pantry to craft a brand identity and packaging design system that brings their bold vision to life. From playful illustrations to travel-inspired design cues, the result is a brand that feels as adventurous and inviting as the flavors themselves. Check out the full case study now live!
Our packaging design work for UMYUM Foods has just been featured on one of the go-to packaging design websites, The Dieline. In a category often dominated by green and neutrals, ZAK’s approach brought a vibrant, playful energy to plant-based packaging. Stoked to see our work for UMYUM resonating with people out there!