Modern Aristocrat Tea

Motive + Target Audience

I’ve always loved food. If I never had to worry about money, I would open a small café-bistro joint serving creative beverages and dishes. Of course, there would be hand-curated products for patrons to take home, too.

In this project from my Design Studio II class, I had the opportunity to partially realize this daydream. I created a line of loose leaf teas that would be sold through my imaginary shop, Honeybuns Café, targeting customers that are either self-proclaimed tea connoisseurs, or those who would like to immerse themselves more in the arts and culture of tea-making. Overall, I wanted the project to reflect the cozy, nostalgic, but eclectic tones of my shop and products.

Research + Drafting

The first step in any packaging project for me is to make a list of all the information that needs to be present. Since I have such a small surface to work with, I looked into FDA regulations and found out that while some small businesses are exempted from nutrition labeling, they are still required to provide the net content weight, ingredients and allergens list, and business contact information. Note that due to limitations in class, the latter two were omitted, but now I know what to update should I actually launch this product someday.

After gathering the copy, drafting the front design was fairly easy. I knew I wanted flower wreaths matching the teas and my bubbly Honeybuns Café type, so there really weren’t many options. I traced my sketch work onto my trusty iPad, and it’s time to party in Adobe Illustrator.

Production

Finally, it was time to print. I made several copies so I could do test runs, but it was a chilly morning to be cutting paper with X-acto knives. The first cut ended up being okay, and I stuck my labels onto my baby tin cans. I also made sure the inserts could fit into the packaging neatly before I glued down the side seals — because we can’t have the photoshoot without showing off all the pieces!