MULD

An identity for a compost bin made from used restaurant buckets. The product is anti-design, so the brand has to do the selling.

muld — Danish, noun

Topsoil. The dark, living layer that everything grows from. The whole identity is built on that one word.

Context
HTX Sukkertoppen · Technology A · 2023
Role
Visual identity
Scope
Logo · mark · colour · packaging · web
Tools
Photoshop · InDesign
A LEAF — GROWTH, GREENB STEM — THE PROCESSC DOT — THE BUCKETD SURFACE — WHITE ABOVE, PINK BELOWE MULD — BROWN, THE GROUND
Fig. 00 — The mark, as a section through the groundThe bucket is where growth starts.
01 — The problem

The product is a used mayonnaise bucket. Nobody buys that for its looks.

Bokashi turns food waste into soil in two weeks. Our bin was made from buckets restaurants throw away, and no two are the same. So I didn’t try to make the bucket beautiful. I made people want to be part of what it stands for.

02 — Built like soil

The logo is stacked the way the ground is.

“muld” sits at the bottom, heavy and brown. It’s the soil, the foundation the rest stands on. “bokashi kompost” grows out of it in green, with a leaf on top. Behind it, the pink cuts the surface in two: above ground and below.

The Muld logo: 'bokashi kompost' in green with a leaf, above 'muld' in large brown serif letters. The background is white above and pink below, split behind the word muld.
Brown · #412319

Muld. The company name, and the ground everything grows from.

Green · #0A733B

Bokashi kompost. The product, and the plant that comes out of it.

Pink · #F9CFDD

The surface. It splits a page into above and below ground. Nobody else in the category uses it, and it speaks to the audience.

03 — One mark, three jobs

A dot, a stem, a leaf. The dot is the bucket. Growth comes out of it.

I drew one element and let it do several things. On its own, it’s decoration. Put an i under it and it marks information. Add an h and it says hi.

The mark alone: leaf, curling stem and dot
A — The element. Decorative.
The mark used as the dot of a letter i
B — The dot on the i. Information, on web, print and stands.
The mark with an h and i, reading hi
C — hi. For merch and anything that sells the lifestyle.
04 — Two names

Bokashi kompost is the product. Muld is the company.

I kept them apart on purpose. Muld carries the ® and the brand. That way the company can launch other products later without starting over.

05 — The line

fra jord til bord

fra bord til jord

Every Dane knows “from farm to table”. It describes a circle but only goes halfway. Flipping it, “from table to soil”, closes the loop. It sounds familiar, so it sticks.

06 — The audience

Women in the city who want to make a difference.

A small flat, a balcony full of plants, an opinion on climate. I chose an illustration that looks like her, and put her on the poster, the website and the bucket. She’s who the brand talks to.

A3 poster on pink: the Muld logo above an illustration of a woman with a flower in her hair, holding a yellow bucket
A3 poster · Illustration: artist unknown
Website concept on a desktop and phone, with a pink Muld mug beside them
Website concept — why, how, what
07 — On the bucket

It had to work on a bucket that’s different every time.

So nothing depends on the shape. A round sticker on the lid, the logo on the side. The same rules carry to the yeast pouch and the tote.

Three white buckets: the lid from above with a pink hi sticker, and two side views with the Muld logo
Yeast pouch: 'gær' in gold on white, Muld logo on a pink lower halfCanvas tote with the green hi mark and a pink lower band
08 — Five steps

The whole process, without a manual. Collect, add yeast, wait, dig, plant.

Five illustrated steps: collect food waste, add yeast, wait 14 days, you made soil, plant new crops