Siyu Shen couldn’t find soy milk that looked right, so she made Dou

The designer Siyu Shen loves designing for food, drink and everything surrounding it. So much so, she decided to make her own concept for a soy milk brand: Dou. Siyu branded Dou to express her love of food and interest in culinary culture. “I’ve always been fascinated by food and drinks as they connect culture, community, and lifestyle,” she says. “As I noticed the growing rise of non-dairy alternatives, I became curious about the hype and wanted to understand what drives consumer choices.” 

In her research, Siyu found plenty of misconceptions over plant-based options, particularly soy milk. “Growing up with homemade soy milk, I struggled to find a brand that truly captured the original taste, let alone one with an authentic or compelling identity,” Siyu says. Dou was born as a result, setting out to offer a genuine, earnest product, rooted in childhood memories and tradition, that still feels at home in modern culture. 

“Because the ingredients are so simple, I wanted the brand identity to reflect that,” Siyu says. “I designed the logotype to give the brand a tangible, warm, and approachable voice,” creating an aesthetic and tonal bridge between different cultures, countries and tastes. “As soy milk is such a beloved drink in Chinese culture, I combined a modern, universal design language to help the brand resonate across both Eastern and Western audiences,” Siyu continues. 

The culmination of these sensibilities is a confident, uncomplicated identity that’s equal parts striking and satisfying. It’s confident character is, in part, down to its charismatic hero typeface, Modak, from Google Fonts – it’s rounded forms offer a necessary accessibility without jeopardising its charm. “The plump and soft character feels perfectly suited for a soy milk brand,” Siyu says. She customised the letterforms to overlap for a tighter, denser look, whilst also adding a slanted ellipse above the ‘o’ as a visual reference to the soybean. She then paired the buoyant logomark with Google Font’s Familjen Grotesk. An altogether more pragmatic typeface, Siyu explains, “its minimal, neutral feel helped strike a visual balance across the brand.” 

Tying the brand together is Dou’s colour palette, consisting of monochromatic hues that contrast with the brand’s champion muted mustard yellow. Siyu wanted to use yellow to reflect the “naturally warm, golden tint of fresh soy milk,” creating an overall tone that’s both vibrant and soft, and perfectly compliments the rest of the bold identity.