If there’s a modern daily necessity brand that can represent China, what will it look like?

China has yet to witness the creation of a daily necessity brand with a strong and clear brand image. Very few manufacturers understand the importance of branding. As a result, not only most of them produce daily goods that bear a similarity in design to those of other countries, they also mainly sell their products at low price on major e-commerce platforms like Taobao and Tmall. If there’s a modern daily necessity brand that can represent China, what will it look like? Driven by this goal, we created Yidian.

Brand Philosophy

Yidian, a word in Chinese which means “a little bit more”. Yidian is seeking for improvement for life,

but not to subvert, just a little bit better than current, from all aspects of life through beautiful and elegant,

yet practical and meaningful household product design.

A little bit more understand,

A little bit more inspiration,

A little bit more care,

A little bit more elegance,

Everyday, just a little bit more.

Six Attributes

Intensive research and analysis led a strategy that includes six different brand attributes for Yidian to follow in the future. Yidian’s goal is to create an emotional connection between products and human through simple, honest and elegant design, and to become one of the most popular household and consumer products brands in China. 

The Logo

In China, life is summarized into 6 sections: Wearing / Eating / Living / Traveling / Educating / Entertainment. Products of Yidian are designed based on these 6 categories. In this project, 4 different products are designed for the first launch. Bowl, tea pot, Chinese chess, and stationary set.

A Grain (Bowl)

Chinese love hot food. When the bowl contains hot food, it is hard to take it from a flat table. The small gap at the bottom prevent users to be hurt by high temperature food and help them easily take it off a flat surface.

A Drop (Tea Set)

The teapot design was inspired by Ming-Dynasty-styled furniture which emphasizes on the contrast between linearity and surfaces by creating horizontal and vertical straight lines. This concept is aesthetically reflected in our product as the cylinder-shaped teapot has straight, long and narrow handle; and the tiny slender knob sits on top of a round lid. Using wood and clay, the tea set looks modern as well as traditional.

A Piece (Chinese Chess)

In the past, chess pieces are round discs with Chinese characters (indicating their roles) inscribed on them. Understandably, the game will be a bit challenging for non-Chinese speaking players. As a result, we turned each character into a three-dimensional shape visualizing the role and function of the chess pieces. This way non-Chinese speaking players can enjoy the game while Chinese-speaking players are able to have fun with it in a whole new way.

For instance, “Che” (meaning chariots) can be represented by wheels, so the chess piece is added a circular shape. “Xiang” (elephants) can be simplified to its long nose, so the chess piece now has an arc on it. “Shuai” (the king) chess piece has the most dots (tiny cylinders added to 5 of its surfaces), implying its dominance in the game.

A Cube (Organizer)

It consists of ten components: one big box for small plants or pens, three small trays for keys, post it and paperclips, two square frames for small things like tapes and pins, a base with holes equipped with customizable sticks for notes and business cards, and two stands for smartphone and small tablets. Yidian Organizer is made of different types of top-quality natural wood, it offers a great combination of practical utensils, while at the same time fits quietly and gorgeously into almost every environment.

Yidian

A Chinese household and consumer products brand which has high quality, affordable price, and honest aesthetic.