Chapa Mandashi Package Design

By far one of the most iconic and oldest brand names in Kenya, Chapa Mandashi has graced majority of Kenyan kitchens as the most preferred baking powder used in making of cakes, pastries and but of course mandazis. We’ve all heard the phrase, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” this would be the best way to describe the Chapa Mandashi brand. But there’s no problem with looking at different perspectives on elevating the brand. Niko Creative decided to take up the challenge as a personal project on the Chapa Mandashi package design and see what ideas we can come up with.

Through the progression of the project we were able to give the package design a total change but retaining the recognizable blue and yellow colors of the package that many of the consumer are familiar with. The African woman on the package design was more of a way to pay homage to the African women who have over the years used the baking powder to make tasty, palatable and mouth-watering mandazis for us. The circular patterns on the package design are inspired by African pattern designs used on kangas and the back part of the package was inspired by lesos which African women tie around their waist usually when performing tasks around the household one of them being cooking.  The leso design shows the different pastries, puddings and cakes the baking powder can be used on. With majority of lesos, they usually bear a Swahili saying and we felt the saying “Kula na wenzio”  best describes the Chapa Mandashi brand.