M — N Associates

Specialized in Graphic Design.

M — N Associates

About M — N Associates

M — N Associates is an award-winning branding & creative design studio, started with M — Lan and Duy — N. We help creating meaningful solution & designing cool brands with powerful messages. We approach creativity differently. We believe that great designs are not only creating sustainable system but also maintaining intelligent strategy. Our works embrace a diverse range of creative solutions across brand and graphic system, products and packaging, websites and digital experiences, architecture and interior direction.

  • Winner of 2 A' Design Awards.
  • Specialized in Graphic Design.
  • Original Design.
  • Creative, Diligent and Innovative.
  • All Designs
  • Graphic
GHTK Rebrand Brand Design

GHTK Rebrand Brand Design

Graphic Design

Leman Jewelry Branding and Packaging

Leman Jewelry Branding and Packaging

Graphic Design

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Interview with M — N Associates

Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?
Duy — N studied Multimedia Design at RMIT University Vietnam and started freelancing before graduated. After graduated and freelancing for agency for a while, he met M — Lan, together they found M — N Associates. I was a multimedia skillful designer who experience from video production, interactive to graphic. Therefore he has great aspects when come to visual system.While M — Lan was a great designer on management, packaging and print production. Graduating from Hoa Sen University and had a MBA, she is one hardcore business manager, but creativity is in her vein making her stepping up into creative industry.
Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
The studio is boutique and small, currently located near the airport, away from Saigon's downtown hustle and bustle. Started with just the duo, M — N Associates works closely with startup clients to create new and meaningful cool brands in Vietnam. The association concept of the studio is all about connecting best creative minds on their fields collaborating on projects to produce best quality rather than collecting them under one studio, give them more freedom to innovate.
What is "design" for you?
Creation and innovation to serve daily wants and needs for particular criteria of humanity.
Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
Developing the right concept before developing the visual system, and refining the right visual concept to adapt and solve client's needs.
What makes a design successful?
Its logic, the content and the visual perfectly match to each other.
Can you talk a little about your design process?
We discuss and research first about the concept development, it could take really long time before digging into the visual system but it saves more time when into visual development and eliminate many unnecessary ideas.
Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
We discussed all the issues and direction as a team to come to a refined solutional system them execute it individually according to personal styles and understandings. And work again together as a team to peer review each solutions to make it better before presenting to clients

Designer of the Day Interview with M — N Associates

Could you please tell us about your experience as a designer, artist, architect or creator?
Working as a designer in this young and challenging industry in Vietnam is quite tough and cool at the same time. I have no idea what happening next even scheduling everything extremely careful. Saigon is a chaos place where mixcultures are growing together and innovation happens everyday. And I'm really love working here, especially on branding industry, where it's the beginning of the new era, when business do care about having right branding design.
How did you become a designer?
I started to study multimedia designer at RMIT University Vietnam due to my passion about working on film industry. However, opportunities after graduating kept driving me into agency jobs. Then I realized, I’m better at creating and designing, by applying knowledges and skills from making film. My design makes more sense and easier for clients to understand. After a while, I met M — Lan, with her knowledge on business and production, visualizing and producing craziest design in Vietnam, become much easier. Together, we found our firm to seek and resolve problems for business as well as sharing our knowledges for others.
What are your priorities, technique and style when designing?
I'm all about sustainable design, it worked for me when all the content, requirements and design harmonizing and supply for daily wants and needs.
What particular aspects of your background shaped you as a designer?
Marketing, entrepreneurship, storytelling, script-writing, content development, strategy planning and gossiping.
What is your growth path? What are your future plans? What is your dream design project?
I just want my studio to grow steadily and sustainably therefore, I still have time to care for each of every project that comes from out studio.
What are your advices to designers who are at the beginning of their career?
Keep learning and work hard, every project is a greater lesson than go to school.
You are truly successful as a designer, what do you suggest to fellow designers, artists and architects?
For me, I'm just trying best to solve clients' problems.
What is your day to day look like?
I have breakfast and coffee late, than reviewing works from designers, give them new tasks and start to work on other projects and replying emails. Then, maybe leave the studio around 6-7pm.
How do you keep up with latest design trends? To what extent do design trends matter?
Reading design news, updating trends from European, Asian to American, studying new creative process, production process from other industries like plastic, glass, ceramic to interior, architecture for better understanding and easier for collaboration on greater scale.
How do you know if a product or project is well designed? How do you define good design?
For me, it have to be logical. All developments of the design has to be meaningful and functional on certain criteria.
How do you decide if your design is ready?
When there's no more to fix from us on design and production aspects, things could be limited in so many ways in Vietnam but if it reach the limitation of production capability and it releases with certain satisfaction from customers.
What is your biggest design work?
My biggest design work is our studio, because each project has the same effort and consume an quite amount of time for researching and development, to be unique on the market and to be accepted. So it can't be judging on any particular project.
Who is your favourite designer?
In-house anonymous designers that maintains great brands like Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Monocle, etc.
Would you tell us a bit about your lifestyle and culture?
Our mix, young and hip culture is really affect my work. Combining with my reading on sustainable design from other cultures. I can create something unique and mixed here.And traveling is always a great habit to observe new lifestyles, cultures, find new daily inspirations and relax.
Would you tell us more about your work culture and business philosophy?
I'm not easy to work with, and I have a great observation on people behaviour, so I'm quite selected to choose carefully who I can work with. Therefore, I could take down the risk of failure on communication which is one of the most common thing for failed projects.
What are your philanthropic contributions to society as a designer, artist and architect?
Every of project from our studio that could be launched successfully is a social achievement for us because it is always working back and forward from end-users to our clients' aspect.
What positive experiences you had when you attend the A’ Design Award?
Won Platinum and Gold Award on the first time attending. It's such a great journey to receive the award.

Extended Interview with M — N Associates

Could you please tell us about your experience as a designer, artist, architect or creator?
I studied Multimedia Design at RMIT University Vietnam and started freelancing before graduated, since right after graduated I started M — N Associates with M — Lan.
How did you become a designer?
The whole journey happens when I started to draw typography back in high school and later fall in love with technology when on RMIT Tour for high school students
Which emotions do you feel when designing?
Mainly we're focusing on branding in our studio, so it's not only about visual system, but more about how the identity designed within discussed brand strategy and how the visual involve into different kinds of communication medium. Personally I'd love to learn and practice more on product design to understand more about human behavior
What particular aspects of your background shaped you as a designer?
Keep learning everyday, break things up and put back together in your way.
What is your growth path? What are your future plans? What is your dream design project?
Great designer can foresee not only the details but the whole system and make it greater together.
What are your advices to designers who are at the beginning of their career?
In many reality aspects, seeing how people response to your design.
How do you know if a product or project is well designed? How do you define good design?
I travel, as much as I can, to have more materials, seeking for new / old ideas

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