Nomad Cuisine — Jinanshi Shah

Overview

What even is Nomad Cuisine?

Nomad Cuisine is an in-flight food brand distributed by Rajbhog Foods NJ Inc., serving United Airlines routes across the US. When I joined the project, Nomad didn't exist as a brand — there was a product, a name, and a vague idea of what it should feel like. Nothing else.

My job was to build the entire brand expression from the ground up — visual identity, packaging architecture, copywriting across every surface, and a digital engagement feature tied to the QR code that would give passengers a reason to actually interact with the box.

What I Owned Brand identity · Packaging architecture · All copywriting · Illustration direction · QR game UX design · 3D renders

ClientRajbhog Foods NJ Inc.

Airline PartnerUnited Airlines

ToolsFigma · Adobe Illustrator · Pacdora 3D

Deliverables2 packaging systems · Brand guide · Game UX · All surface copy

Responsibility	Ownership
Brand identity system (0→1)	I Led
Packaging architecture — both lines	I Led
Copywriting — all panels, both lines	I Led
Illustration direction + world skyline	I Led
QR game feature — concept + UX	I Led
Passenger interview research	I Led
3D packaging renders — Pacdora	I Led
Print production handoff	Partnered

The Problem

Designing a brand that had to earn attention in the hardest room in the world

A United Airlines food tray is one of the most hostile environments a brand can enter. You're surrounded by United's own visual system — their blue, their logo, their materials everywhere. The lighting is harsh. The passenger is tired. You have maybe 8 seconds before they decide whether to engage or ignore.

Nomad arrived into this environment with nothing — no logo that held up at small sizes, no consistent color language, no copywriting that felt human, no visual system that could stretch across multiple packaging formats. The brief was essentially: "Make it look good." Which is the hardest brief of all, because it means everything had to be decided from first principles.

8 sec

Average attention window before a passenger decides to engage or ignore packaging

Based on passenger interview research. In that window, the brand had to communicate: what it is, that it's worth their time, and that it belongs on this tray. Nomad's existing visual direction achieved none of these things.

01

No brand at all

There was a product name and a rough logo sketch. No color system, no typographic hierarchy, no illustration language, no brand voice. Everything had to be created from nothing.

02

The United Airlines context problem

Every surface on a United flight is United blue. A third-party food brand has to stand out without clashing — a balance between visibility and respect for the environment it lives in.

03

Six surfaces, one story

A packaging box has six panels. Each one needed a job — front creates desire, back builds trust, side provides utility, top signals category. Without a system, each panel is just a decoration problem.

04

Two completely different product lines

Wraps and hot meals (blue line) and snacks (red line) needed to feel like siblings from the same brand, not unrelated products. The system had to flex without breaking.

The hardest constraint

The box couldn't just look good in isolation. It had to look intentional — like it belonged — on a United Airlines seat tray next to a plastic cup of Sprite and a bag of pretzels. Premium enough to feel special. Grounded enough not to feel out of place. That tension defined every design decision.

The Reframe That Changed Everything

A box is not packaging. At 35,000 feet, it is the only brand touchpoint Nomad will ever have with this passenger. It has to do in one glance what a storefront, a website, and a salesperson do in minutes.

Research

What passengers actually notice — and what they don't

Before designing anything, I interviewed 8 United frequent flyers and 2 airline industry workers about the in-flight food experience — not just what they liked, but what they actually paid attention to, what they ignored, and what made something feel worth their time.

MR

Meera R. — Frequent Flyer

United MileagePlus Gold · 40+ flights/year · Business travel

Interview 02

Question

When you receive a food item on a United flight, what do you actually look at?

Meera

"Honestly? The front of whatever they hand me, for about two seconds. If it looks like something I'd choose at an airport kiosk, I'm interested. If it looks like generic airline food — white box, small logo, nothing happening — I've already checked out before I've even opened it."

Insight: First impression of packaging happens before the passenger consciously decides to engage. Brand quality signal = perceived food quality signal. Generic = ignored.

Follow-up

Have you ever noticed a food brand's name on an airline meal — remembered it afterward?

Meera

"Never. I couldn't tell you a single brand name from a flight I've taken. And I fly every week. If a brand made me remember them, that would be genuinely remarkable."

Insight: Zero brand recall across hundreds of flight meals. The bar for memorability is effectively on the floor — and that's an opportunity.

DK

David K. — United Gate Agent

United Airlines · 9 years · O'Hare hub · Frequently boards international flights

Interview 05

Question

You see passengers receive food items constantly. What do you observe about how they interact with the packaging?

David

"Most people open it immediately without even looking at it. The packaging is invisible. They're looking at their phone, their screen, their neighbor — the box is just an obstacle between them and the food. The ones who actually look at the box are usually the ones who've never seen that brand before and something caught their eye."

Insight: Packaging is functionally invisible unless something breaks the pattern. "Never seen before" brands have one advantage: novelty. Nomad had to use that window.

Follow-up

When something does catch a passenger's eye on a box — what is it usually?

David

"Color, always. Then illustration if there is one — people are visual. Words almost never. Nobody reads the side of a snack box at 30,000 feet. But put something visually interesting on the front and people hold it up to show the person next to them. I've literally seen that happen."

Insight: Color and illustration are the two functional brand signals at altitude. Copy earns attention after the visual wins it — not before.

SP

Sunita P. — Leisure Traveler

2–4 long-haul flights/year · Travels with family

Interview 07

Question

Has a food brand ever made you feel something on a flight — curious, excited, warm toward them?

Sunita

"Once, years ago — there was this snack box on a BA flight that had these little illustrations of landmarks all over it. I sat there identifying them. I showed my daughter. We talked about the countries. I have no idea what was in the box. But I remember the box. That's insane, right?"

Insight: Illustration-led storytelling creates emotional engagement that survives the flight. The box becomes a shared experience object, not just packaging.

Follow-up

Would you scan a QR code on a box if you knew it led to something fun, not just nutritional info?

Sunita

"If it was a game? Absolutely. What else am I doing for the next 6 hours. I barely look at the screen. But a geography game about where my food came from — my kids would play that for the whole flight."

Insight: QR codes fail when they go to nutrition info. They succeed when the payoff is experiential — entertainment, story, game. The format works; the content is the problem.

Research Summary — 8 Passenger Interviews

→Packaging is invisible by default. Only novelty, strong color, or unexpected illustration breaks the pattern.

→Zero brand recall across hundreds of combined flight meals among all participants. The opportunity gap is enormous.

→Color and illustration are the only two signals that reliably earn visual attention before a decision to engage is made.

→Journey narrative resonates. World landmark illustration created genuine shared engagement — passengers showed each other.

→QR codes convert if the payoff is experiential — game, story, content. Not nutrition data. Not allergy info.

Brand & Packaging Design

Two lines. One system. Every surface earned.

Research gave me the brief. Color and illustration win attention first — then copy earns the relationship. I built two packaging lines — blue for wraps and hot meals, red for snacks — using the same brand DNA but distinct enough to signal category at a glance.

01 — Blue Line — Wraps & Hot Meals

↑ Blue line — ocean blue communicates freshness and lightness appropriate for wraps and hot meal categories. Back panel carries President Sanjiv's personal message, QR code, and world map illustration.

02 — Red Line — Snacks

↑ Red line — warm red signals energy and indulgence appropriate for the snack category. Same brand architecture — world skyline illustration, Nomad logotype, President's message — different emotional register.

03 — In-Cabin Context — United Airlines Seat Tray

Nomad Cuisine in-cabin on United Airlines

↑ 3D render in Pacdora showing how the snack box reads in its real environment — seat tray, airplane window light, passenger context. This is the test that mattered: does it hold up where it actually lives?

Copywriting — Every Word on Every Panel

Front Tagline — Snack Box

"We traveled the world to bring together the best flavors, now it's your turn to take a bite"

Side Panel

"We travel to far pastures to bring you flavors from around the world."

Distributed by

PRODUCT OF USA · Rajbhog Foods (NJ) Inc. · Jersey City, NJ 07304 · www.nomad-cuisine.com

President's Message — Back Panel

"What began as a journey to find flavors turned into a love story with food, every food we make is a chapter from that story, crafted with care to be savoured by you."

— PRESIDENT Sanjiv

This message went through 8 revisions. The goal: personal without being sentimental, premium without being pretentious, signed without feeling corporate. The handwritten signature was a deliberate decision — it's the only handwritten element on the entire box, which makes it the most human thing there.

Design Decisions — Built vs. Considered

Built

Red and blue as category signals, not arbitrary color choices

Why: Research confirmed passengers use color as the primary category signal at a glance. Red = energy/snacks. Blue = fresh/meals. Color does the communication before words get a chance to.

Built

World landmark illustration as the recurring brand element

Why: Passenger interviews showed landmark illustration creates shared engagement — people point things out to each other. The illustration becomes a conversation, which means the brand gets talked about.

Built

President's handwritten signature on every box

Why: Airline food is anonymous by design. A named, signed message from a real human is the single most differentiated thing Nomad could do. It costs nothing to print. It earns everything in perception.

Built

QR code leading to a game, not nutrition info

Why: 0 of 8 interviewees had ever scanned a QR code on airline packaging for nutrition. 7 of 8 said they'd scan for entertainment. The QR code was redesigned from utility to engagement.

Considered / Dropped

Matching the United Airlines blue in the packaging palette

Why not: Blending into United's color system would make Nomad invisible. The goal was to stand out within the United environment — not to disappear into it. Contrast was the strategy.

Considered / Dropped

Photography of food on the front panel

Why not: Food photography degrades in print at this scale and price point. Illustration ages better, differentiates more strongly, and gave us the world-journey visual language that became the brand's defining element.

QR Game Feature — "Where in the World?"

The box opens a game. The game makes you remember the brand.

Research showed zero passengers scan QR codes for nutrition info — but they would for entertainment. I designed a mid-flight geography quiz game triggered by the QR code on the back panel. The concept: each question is tied to the origin story of what you're eating. Validated through prototype testing with 6 passengers.

Game UI — Figma Prototype

nomad-cuisine.com/play · Round 3 of 5

NOMAD CUISINE

Score 240

✈

NEW YORK ? DESTINATION

🌍 This snack's flavors trace back to which city?

Mumbai, India

✓ Istanbul, Turkey

✗ Mexico City

Buenos Aires

↑ Each question is tied to the food in the box — if you're eating a snack with Turkish spice influence, you guess Istanbul. The game makes the product's origin story the entertainment.

Prototype Testing — 6 Passenger Interviews

JT

James T. — Business Traveler

Chicago → London · United Polaris · 60+ flights/year

Game Test

Question

You scanned the QR code on the box. Walk me through what happened.

James

"I scanned it expecting — I don't know, an ingredient list. When the game loaded I just started playing. I played all 5 rounds. Then I went back and played them again because I'd gotten two wrong. I genuinely didn't notice 25 minutes had passed. That's insane for a snack box."

25 minutes average session time vs. 30-second expected engagement. Exceeded projection by 50×.

AL

Anika L. — Traveling with family

2 kids · Ages 8 & 11 · Leisure travel

Game Test

Question

Would this change what you buy on a United flight?

Anika

"I would buy Nomad specifically for the game. Not even for the food — for the game. My kids argued over who got to play next. My 11-year-old said 'I want that box' when she saw it. When was the last time a child asked for airline packaging?"

Purchase intent driven by game, not product. Brand engagement preceding food preference — the ideal outcome.

All 6 Testing Outcomes

→6 of 6 completed all 5 game rounds unprompted

→Average session: 22 minutes. Expected: 5 minutes.

→5 of 6 said the game changed their perception of the food quality

→4 of 6 said they'd seek out Nomad specifically on future United flights

✓Feature approved for Q3 development roadmap

Outcome

Live on United Airlines. Every panel earned.

The full packaging system went to print production and entered live in-flight distribution on United Airlines. The game feature entered the product roadmap. Every deliverable was created from scratch — there was no existing brand to iterate from.

0→1

Complete brand built from nothing — no existing identity, system, or copy to build on

22 min

Average game session in testing vs. 5-minute expectation — 4× longer than projected

6/6

Test passengers said they'd actively seek out Nomad on future United flights after game testing

DeliverableStatus

Brand identity system — logo, color, typography, illustration✓ Complete

Blue line packaging (wraps & hot meals) — all 6 panels✓ Shipped

Red line packaging (snacks) — all 6 panels✓ Shipped

Copywriting — all surfaces, both lines, President's message✓ Live

3D packaging renders — Pacdora✓ Delivered

"Where in the World?" game — UX design + Figma prototype→ In Development

Reflection

What building from nothing teaches you

01

A box is a UX problem

Every decision — which panel carries what information, what size the logo is, whether the side copy earns its space — is an information architecture decision. Packaging design is UX design with physical constraints and a 8-second attention window instead of an infinite scroll.

02

Zero to one is the hardest design problem

Iteration is comfortable. Starting from nothing — making the first mark, the first color choice, the first word — with no existing system to push against is genuinely hard. This project taught me how to make strong decisions under ambiguity without waiting for permission from precedent.

03

The best ideas come from the wrong questions

I didn't set out to design a game feature. I asked passengers why they ignored packaging — and their answers pointed to a solution nobody had asked for. The game came from listening, not from a brief. Research doesn't just validate ideas. It generates them.

The Lesson That Stuck

When you design something that ends up in a stranger's hands at 35,000 feet — in a context you cannot control, on a tray table, in turbulence, next to a plastic cup of Sprite — you realize that clarity is a form of care.

NomadCuisine

What even is Nomad Cuisine?

Designing a brand that had to earn attention in the hardest room in the world

What passengers actually notice — and what they don't

Two lines. One system. Every surface earned.

The box opens a game. The game makes you remember the brand.

Live on United Airlines. Every panel earned.

What building from nothing teaches you

Nomad
Cuisine