How to Brand an Apple’ explores the transformative potential of branding in the agricultural market, using the apple as a case study. The book delves into innovative graphic design strategies to differentiate a simple fruit in a saturated market, and integrates cultural elements, especially from Taiwan, to highlight regional uniqueness. By examining the evolution of packaging, brand naming, and storytelling, How to Brand an Apple provides brand designers, agricultural producers, and marketers with actionable insights to enhance the unique identity of their products on a global scale.
To include a detailed branding process for apples (a single agricultural product), including but not limited to: basic apple research, covering apple definition, composition, growing environment, variety, eating method, taste, appearance, and broader cultural context, including art history and contemporary interpretations of apples (e.g., the Apple computer logo) Taiwan's cultural use of the experiment in the possibility of transferring culture to the use of images.
An apple is one of the most common fruits in the world – universally recognized, yet often overlooked. In an era of saturated markets and homogenized packaging, how can something so familiar stand out?How to Brand an Apple is a design-led exploration that reimagines how we perceive and position agricultural products, using the apple as a provocative case study. At its core, the book is a question: Can culture, design, and storytelling transform a simple fruit into a symbol of meaning and value?
Design Meets Agriculture
The project began with a simple premise: branding doesn't belong solely to tech or fashion. It belongs to nature, too.Through extensive research into the apple’s biology, cultivation environments, varietal diversity, and sensory qualities—from texture to taste—we sought to understand the product deeply before attempting to represent it. This foundational layer set the stage for a broader exploration: how might design give shape to the apple's hidden narratives?
By combining visual language, naming systems, and graphic experimentation, the book proposes a branding method rooted in biological essence and cultural resonance.
From Renaissance paintings to tech logos, the apple has long symbolized knowledge, temptation, and innovation. How to Brand an Apple charts this semiotic journey across art history and contemporary culture, drawing parallels between the symbolic apple and the literal one.
In doing so, the book invites the reader to consider the broader aesthetic and philosophical implications of branding natural products.
Taiwan plays a central role in this rebranding. The island's relationship with agriculture is rich and nuanced, shaped by a complex blend of indigenous traditions, colonial histories, and modern innovation.
We integrated elements of Taiwanese visual culture—paper talismans, temple typography, folk beliefs, and contemporary graphic design—to propose a brand identity system for the apple that is regional yet universally legible. The apple becomes a vehicle for cultural storytelling, acting as both object and interface.