A multi-sensory packaging revealing how nature subtly shapes each Vietnamese socoa chocolate bar
(CHALLENGES) Most chocolate packaging defaults to the familiar tropes of cocoa trees and beans. But for ‘socoa’, the story goes deeper, into the subtle ecosystems where cacao is nurtured beneath other crops like coconut, banana, and coffee. The challenge was to design packaging that could visualize this layered growing environment and offer a new, localized narrative, one that goes beyond the bean to honor what grows above and around it. Layơ Lab was asked to translate this ecological richness into a fresh and modern packaging system.
• Purpose and Vision • Positioning Statement • Audience Personas • Core Values & Behaviors
We shifted focus from the bean itself to what nurtures it. Each bar reflects the shades of intercropping trees, revealing how neighboring plants shape taste, identity, and storytelling.
(STORY) Rather than romanticize the cacao tree itself, the packaging elevates the companions that stand around it, quiet guardians casting flavor-shaping shadows. We turned these natural characters into moving shades, abstract forms that shift across the surface, each tone representing a companion crop. The result is a visual language that’s dynamic, region-specific, and rooted in real farming practice. These shaded forms don’t just decorate, they narrate, hinting at a habitat where ingredients grow in dialogue. The bar becomes not just a product of cacao, but of place.
Purpose and Vision Positioning Statement Audience Personas Core Values & Behaviors
nội dung khách hàng
Rather than show landscapes directly, we translated nature into shifting shadows. The design speaks in soft forms and color-coded layers, bringing cacao’s growing environment into view.
(VISUAL) Each chocolate bar is wrapped in flowing shadow like graphics, each shade coded to a companion crop: earthy browns for coffee, soft yellows for banana, and lush greens for coconut. The visual focus moves from the cacao itself to its surrounding ecology. To reflect Vietnam’s geography, we arranged province names using a central stacking system inspired by latitude lines, positioning Dak Lak, Ba Ria, and Ben Tre from north to south. When three bars are collected into a box set, the outer case reconfigures into a stepped silhouette, a tactile reference to topography and elevation. The result is a packaging system that’s responsive, educational, and full of character, just like the chocolate inside.
(Key features)
Purpose and Vision Positioning Statement Audience Personas Core Values & Behaviors
The design invites curiosity through subtle alignment, layered meaning, and physical rearrangement. Each element is made to be touched, rotated, and explored.
(FEATURE) The stacked layout lets users understand the bar’s origin in a single glance. When grouped, the bars align to form a gradient “ladder” of Vietnam’s cacao regions, encouraging users to compare flavor notes geographically. The outer box, when opened, reveals each bar tucked beneath its corresponding shade, visually echoing the intercropped landscape. The tactile satisfaction of unstacking, discovering, and tasting creates a multi-layered experience that reflects the care behind every socoa bar.
