Designing Wunderus
We caught up with Mushen Kieta to find out how the new brand identity for Wunderus was conceived.
J.D. - How was Wunderus conceived?
M.K. - Well, that was quite a while ago. I started Wunderus while living in New York in 2009 trying to pivot the direction I was taking with my film work. When I made movies as a kid, I’d just remake everyone I loved watching, which consisted of kung fu movies or shoot em up films. I started a studio called Ramen Films as a teenager and we just made movies for fun. So by the time I was 18 and a little more seasoned in my film knowledge, I wanted my work to reflect that. So, Ramen Films died and Wunderus was born. I spent some time mulling through ideas for names and the ethos of the new company I wanted to create. I was a naive, ambitious, and excited 18 year old with a head full of ideas, but it would take me the next decade to learn the skills to bring them to life. So, here we are.
J.D. - You’re founder, a writer and director, and illustrator? Why didn’t you hire a firm or freelance artist to design your new branding?
M.K. - It wasn’t for lack of trying. I’ve been through so many emails, calls, and text with designers over the years, I honestly thought I would have to just settle for something until we had a bigger budget to hire a large firm. But what’s funny to me is that most large firms would just create something that’s extremely simple in execution. I understand the process of how they work and why it has become the norm to create cleaner, clearer and often minimalistic rebrandings for big companies, and that’s what I wanted to skip. I didn’t want to have to go through multiple iterations over 20 years when I can just see the finish line and aim for that. I became an illustrator from necessity. An absence of resources pushed me to learn new skills.
J.D. - How did you arrive at the final design for Wunderus’ new wordmark and branding guidelines?
M.K. - That was a struggle to be honest. I’ve gone through so many renditions over the last decade that I never released to the public with a widespread campaign because I never felt convinced of any of them. I would struggle between having some really elaborate logo or wordmark, to much more simpler and basic designs. Something always felt uneasy in me about them. I felt a need for the first image the public would see of Wunderus as a brand, to evoke what the company’s name meant. Wondrous is an adjective meaning inspiring a feeling of wonder or delight. That’s what I want my films to do and that’s what I felt the brand had to do to. This was the artistic choice I made in 2009 that held me from choosing any of the designs I made over the years.
It wasn’t until last year in 2022, when I started wearing my graphic designer cap, that I began exploring typography and learning more about what I would usually outsource to other artists. I’ve always loved graphic design but couldn’t find the mental space to completely learn Adobe Illustrator. After doing some designs for Problak’s Merch Drop last year, I became obsessed with doing more illustration work. At some point I said to myself it was time to see what I could do for Wunderus. I started at 10pm and finished at about 5am. Those are my golden hours. That’s when the magic happens.
I landed on a clean design with a Sans Serif font as the base of the design that I built off of to have a clean modern look that spoke to the level I want to enter the industry at. A new company, but I’m beyond confident of my skills as a filmmaker and a storyteller so I want our branding to feel like it has history. I always wanted something clean but unique. I feel like I found exactly what I was looking for.
