This sardine brand is named after a real person, not a made-up mascot. Maroño was an actual fishe...

This sardine brand is named after a real person, not a made-up mascot. Maroño was an actual fishe...This sardine brand is named after a real person, not a made-up mascot. Maroño was an actual fishe...

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Ali Arshad

• Aug 17

This sardine brand is named after a real person, not a made-up mascot.

Maroño was an actual fisherman in A Coruña, Galicia. His whole life ran on the rhythm of the Atlantic, and the daily catch, sardines packed into tins, meant to be shared with family and friends. That's not backstory I invented for flavor. That's just where the brand came from.

So the identity had to feel earned, not decorative. A heritage-inspired crest, bold type that nods to old-school sardine tin labels, coastal colors that feel vibrant but still grounded in something real. Nothing cartoonish, nothing overly cute, this needed to read as a tribute, not a gimmick.

The sardines themselves got the most attention, honestly. Each one is illustrated with patterns pulled from traditional Spanish tiles, which gives them a bit of local character instead of just looking like generic clip-art fish.

When a brand is actually named after someone real, you can't just decorate around that story, you kind of owe it to them to make sure everything on the shelf still feels honest.

Would knowing a brand is named after a real person change how you feel about the product itself, or does that kind of backstory not really move the needle for you?