HMM Project

HMM Project is an award-winning Taiwanese design brand specializing in coffee and desktop accessories. Over the years, HMM has grown from a passion project to a recognizable brand with products around the globe. The challenge became needing a clear sense of identity both for external branding and internal restructuring. While at HMM, I helped rebrand its identity by realigning its core values to reassessing its product line and launching its new website. By seeing themselves and working towards being a workspace accessories brand, HMM could pursue a broader range of products and attract more customers and talents.

Role

Branding & Identity, Product Design & Management

Company

HMM

Year

2022

Human

Made

Method

HMM

Branding & Identity

The company lacked a unified brand story, which was problematic for getting new clients and consumers, building company culture, and training new employees.

By delivering a clear brand narrative that focused on designing for the workspace environment rather than just a Taiwanese design brand, the company could break free from its previous focus on coffee accessories and stationaries and work towards broader product categories. Bandwagoning on the remote work and work-home lifestyle trend, HMM now focuses on products that enhance and elevate the work-life experience.

Part of rebranding included unifying and redefining the company's external and internal core values and brand meaning.

The first point of action was to clarify the discrepancy between the brand's Mandarin and English names. The original acronym Human, Mechanic, Method fails to convey the brand's efforts toward humanistic handling, balancing craft and industrial production, and bringing method and efficiency towards the workspace environment.

Product Line

During rebranding and product management, the company needed to establish a clear design guideline for the training and introduction of new employees and product lines. This includes removing the tendency to focus on forms and materials and establishing a strong Research & Development process to promote innovation, while still in keeping with the overall design aesthetics.

Streamline Production

As inventory and sales numbers grew, we were also tasked with streamlining production. This meant combining the previous small batch craft production with larger scale industrial output without losing the humanistic details of craft goods.