Leah Cortez Studios
[ ← All work ] Case study No. 01 Brand Identity & Packaging Design · 2025

Insane Grain

Insane Grain pouch: a halftone mouth, red chili and flame linework in red, black and white, with tall condensed type.

A bold visual identity and snack packaging concept for Insane Grain, combining expressive typography, distressed graphics, and high-contrast colors to give the brand a rebellious personality.

Role
Brand & packaging design
Tools
Photoshop, Illustrator
Deliverables
Pouch, Strikin' Hot flavor, graphic system, mockups
01 — The storyInsane Grain
Overview

Insane Grain is a health snack brand aimed at a younger audience. The identity takes a more unconventional approach to health-food branding, using the energy of punk graphics and street culture to communicate the brand's character. The challenge was to make the packaging visually loud without sacrificing the clarity of the product name, flavor, and nutritional information.

Deliverables
  • Brand identity and visual direction
  • Logo and typographic treatment
  • Packaging design
  • Product information and nutritional hierarchy
  • Final packaging mockups
02 — ResearchInsane Grain

Borrowing from collage posters

I pulled collage portraits, halftone photography and loud poster typography: work that feels cut up, layered and a little unhinged, which is exactly what the name asks for.

Moodboard of collage portraits, halftone photography and bold poster typography.
Fig. 01 — Moodboard: collage, halftone and poster type references.
03 — SketchesInsane Grain

Two early directions

A digital collage tested how photography, halftone and flat colour could share one surface. A marker sketch blocked out the grid underneath it.

Two early pouch studies on black: a digital collage and a marker sketch.
Fig. 02 — Collage study (left) and marker sketch (right).
04 — FinalInsane Grain
Rows of the finished Insane Grain pouch laid out at an angle on black.
Fig. 03 — The final pouch, in repeat.
05 — In contextInsane Grain

Out in the world

Insane Grain pouch mockup.
Fig. 04
Insane Grain pouch mockup in a second setting.
Fig. 05
Insane Grain pouch mockup in a third setting.
Fig. 06
06 — Final designInsane Grain

The identity is built around a bold, high-impact visual language. Tall condensed lettering gives the brand name a strong presence, while distressed textures, halftone imagery, and sharp contrasts bring a raw, almost poster-like quality to the packaging.

The front of the pouch uses a halftone screaming mouth and a photographic chili pepper to communicate intensity and flavor. Wavy black-and-white stripes interrupt the composition, while red panels and splatter graphics create movement across the surface. The wordmark remains prominent against this busy background, with the flavor name and nutritional claims organized into a separate band at the bottom.

The contrast between the expressive graphics and the more structured information is intentional. The identity feels energetic and unconventional, but the hierarchy still gives the product a clear name, flavor, and set of nutritional details.

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