ALTAI   Concept, Name, Identity, Product and Package Design, Website, Print, Apparel, Beyond.   

We created the Alai brand from the ground up for a new firm specializing in artisanal low-dose cannabis edibles. We chose to distinguish the brand and address cultural, legal and political taboos with a simple reality check: Cannabis has been a part of humanity for over 25 centuries.  

ANCIENT FUTURE STORYBOOK: Our research led us to a remote mountain range between Mongolia and Russia. Discovered high within in the Altai mountains was a female mummy, perfectly preserved for over 2,500 years.  The so-called Pazyryk Ice Princess was covered in ornate tattoos, and found buried with caribou headdress and a vile containing cannabis. Using mythical imagery of the mountains, symbology of Pazyryk society, and animals of the region, we created  a surreal, ancient/future world called Altai. Altai is a world of magic, healing and transport- part ancient past, part scientific future.  The Altai word mark and branded patterns are founded in ancient/future symbology. The caribou logo is an interpretation of ancient Pazyryk caribou tattoos. 

Client: Altai / Concept, Art Direction, Name, Identity, Design Direction: Katrina Crawford, Mark Bashore / Design Team:  Orlando Portillo + Estudio yy, Eliot Lim, Koji Minami, Hum Creative, Raul Villalobos / Original illustrations, linoprints and artwork: Estudio yy, Raul Villalobos, Katrina Crawford