MA-MA and Pràctica collaborate on a packaging redesign for Seth Rogen’s cannabis brand Houseplant

Houseplant is a cannabis and homeware brand founded by long-term collaborators and friends – actor Seth Rogen and writer/producer Evan Goldberg. Preparing for their launch into the U.S. market, Houseplant reached out to MA-MA and Pràctica to collaborate on a packaging redesign that would resonate with their new target audience. 

The collaboration led to the development of a new typographic and illustrative system; a fun, nostalgic and modernism-inspired visual language. The fresh redesign not only serves to revamp the brand but also unifies their wide range of products and overall communications. The effort was split across the two studios, as Barcelona and New York-based design studio Pràctica focused on the identity and packaging system, while New York-based multi-disciplinary design studio MA-MA took the lead on the structural side of the packaging and production design. We talk to Pràctica’s Art Director and Co-founder Javier Arizu about the new developments. “The nature of the redesign required us to maintain their existing logotype and symbol,” he tells us. “We couldn’t change them. Instead of hiding it, we took it as a foundation for all of the identity.”

Included in the revised identity and packaging is a wider typographic system with a custom typeface based on the brand’s original logotype. “It was drawn from scratch based on the pre-existing logotype the brand had before the redesign.” To design and develop the typography further, Pràctica sought the help of Tipografies’ Jordi Embodas.

Supporting the typography is a unifying line illustration system that helps to represent the forms of the products packaged within. “Following a similar approach as with the typeface,” Arizu explains, “we created a line illustration style that takes its origin in their existing symbol.” Alongside a revamp of the entire line of packaging products, the studios were also tasked with designing ‘hero products’ to house the cannabis goods: three recyclable cannabis tin jars and the pre-roll cannabis tin. The three jars, designed by MA-MA, have been constructed so they can stack like lego bricks. With a removable paper label, the vibrant tin jars are made with longevity in mind; designed to be reused and displayed within the home.

The jars, alongside the rest of the revamp, showcases an updated colour scheme. Evolving from the brand’s original colours, Arizu informs us that “a fresher colour palette with brighter hues” was introduced “to convey the vibrancy of the company.” Corresponding to Houseplant’s cannabis strains, the jars come in vibrant orange for the uplifting sativa, a cosy pink for the calming indica, and a lime green dedicated to the hybrid strain. The jars embody the brand’s new feel; exuding 70s-inspired nostalgia with a playful modern update.

MA-MA

Pràctica

Houseplant