Branding Process Book1project

justin sooter

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Design Brief

Research

Mood Board

Brainstorming

Thumbnails

Roughs

Comps

Final Solution

Design Narrative

table of contents

design briefThe challenge of this design is rooted in years of cliche and copies. Tea, being a worldwide product, has changed very little, however the brand marketing of this luxury beverage is capitalizing and aligning with the culture of fads, trends, and associative consumerism that is prevalent in American culture. The design would need to consist of a visu-ally enticing logo that exemplifies the historic understanding of tea, yet have a modern blend of color, texture, and style that sets the brand in strong comparison to competitors. The target audience is of a wide range consisting of anyone between 15-35 years of age, within an

economically liberal household, living in metropolitan areas where the demand of specialty drinks is common. Com-petitors such as Lipton, Typhoon, and Bigelow are brands that are historically simple in their marketing and sales be-cause there is always a demand for their style of tea. Newer brands like Celestial, Tazo, and Honest Tea are brands that capitalize on the organic, natural, and new market that is more vastly populat-ed by young people. It is my goal, as a designer to make a brand identity that stands out as a new product that relates to the past history of the consumer good while visually and idealistically making

it a modern, popular, and different product. The design will be influenced by the old conception of tea brands, with the outlook and style of new and modern oriented marketing.

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researchAs a brand that is trying to be different, new, and enticing, I thought it was best to review what competitors we doing to market their teas. Lipton, one of the most common household brands, makes a large variety of teas, however they specifically market new flavored or natural teas to a younger generation of tea drinkers. Likewise, Tazo and Celestial market their teas to the younger range of consumers, seeing how Tazo tea products are sold in Starbucks coffee shops, their parent

company, and Celestial, by creating sweet, uncommon flavors market themselves to younger and more adventurous consumers. My main sources of inspiration come from the plant itself; tea is a very dynamic and complicated plant that has many colors, hues, and tones. The other material that I found to be useful, when planning my design, was old Victorian style labels, seals, and typography, of Louise Fili which combine delicacy with practicality.

All imagery below is property of the specific tea manufacturers: Lipton, Tazo, and Celestial Seasonings. The two right images are property of Louise Fili Ltd.

mood board

As part of my research, I needed to understand what makes a con-sumer want to buy this tea brand instead of a more common one next to it on the shelf. The visuals of other brands are nature driven and always exhibiting the freshness of the product. The impression that I want a shopper to have when they see, hold, and read the

packaging is of a tea that is naturally wholesome, specially craft-ed, and a new, convenient alternative to rival brands. I want to depict the quality, taste, and stylish essence of the product through plant-like colors and old-style presentation, as a reference to other brands.

collectorsweekly.com

sinflora.com neuarmy.comrandy-kates.blogspot.com

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brainstormingThe narrowness of the tea brand became very apparent as I sketched, wrote, and thought about the design of the solution I was creating. I used a mind map to help plan what direction I should plan to go to best personify this brand. The diversity of tea products is very limited and the common things that come to mind are not original or unlike the present competition, however after much brainstorming it occurred to me that the brand didn’t have to be unlike, it only had to be accomplish-

ing my specifications for the target audience. The design would contain elements that are similar to other brands, as most logos do, however rather than create an entirely new and unrelated identity, I chose to capitalize on and exploit the beneficial parts that are common of the tea industry. The visuals would drive the existing derived demand as to only sway consumer behavior to this product instead of another, rather than create a new style, idea, and understanding of the product. I

planned out what type I would want to avoid, so as to not duplicate ex-isting brands, and what elements of the tea industry to avoid. The colors, tone, and feel of the brand began to develop as I narrowed my choices and the modern style coupled with old inspiration found it’s place in the forefront of my planning.

tea mind mapI used a mind map to better direct what elements of tea to stay avoid and which to follow.

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thumbnails

roughs

After developing my favorite thumbnails into rough sketches I was able to eliminate the unusable options to better focus my efforts. The tagline, “Fine Imported Tea” began to develop at this time; though it is simple, I believe that it sets a level of quality and pres-tige that the brand can easily assume. The idea of color began to

settle towards the green color palette, seeing as how it relates to tea leaves, organic products, and nature, I thought it was a good decision to direct my design to something that might reflect this.

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compsAfter developing and deciding which roughs I wanted to try, I made full comps of them. Through Adobe Illustrator, I created these three logos. The first, Jaymee’s, combines a vintage style with a modern simplicity. The use of tex-ture and spacing allows the viewer to develop their own interpretation of the brand, making it less of a distinct characterization and more of a individual experience. This brand would use the tag line, “Green, Black, Herbal” as it relates to the

types of tea. The second option, Hazel’s Whole Leaf Tea, combines an old-style of presentation with the banner and oval badge and the new pastel hues of leaves. I was hoping to make the best combination of old and new with this logo while still maintaining the established qualities of tea manufacturers. This logo would use the tag line, “Whole Leaf Tea” which is a high quality method of production for tea. The third logo, Wholesome Tea, is my personal favorite but perhaps

not my best option. The logo has a generational elegance that looks fine, expensive, and selective, all of which are elements that a tea brand hopes to achieve. However, because I am marketing the new brand to a younger audience, it may be a wise decision to avoid the conventional understanding of what a tea brand looks like. The brand would use the tag line, “Organic,” the word would help convince the buyer of the good and pure qualities already perceived in the name.

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The development of my Comps helped me choose the second option as the best solution to the design problem. I developed the logo and added the elements that I saw necessary to make the brand more dynamic and interesting. It uses the same badge style oval with a banner and more clearly defined colors. The color palette helps reflect the youth and vitality of the brand, while still appearing as a long established brand and manufacturer. The brand is completed as a different, modern,

and quality consumer good that is made to draw the eye of the target audience and secondary buyers. The strategy of the design is not to create a new market but rather help segment a derived market that exists, especially among tea drinkers of all ages. The typeface Duke Bevel creates the name with Futura Std Heavy and Light for the sub-header, “Whole Leaf Tea”, and tag line, “Fine Imported Tea.” Many brands of tea have variation of their product due to seasons, so as part of

my solution I thought it was most beneficial to create a logo that can vary based on the season and type of tea. The brand can then become a product that relates to the consumers lives, changing the color, flavor, and feeling, just as nature changes the environment around the buyer.

solution

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The design solution is the best option to derive a demand for a new specialty tea because it is different, denotes quality, and exemplifies the strong characterization of tea brands. The choice of color, and variations of it, help denote user experience and personifies the natural elegance of the tea. The beveled typeface has the appearance of a stamped, old lettering practice on packaging, while the sanserif tag lines help make the brand look modern and current. The logo would

be stamped into the paper packaging and give the appearance of slightly beveled lettering and elements. The pastel colors would be raised and as-sume the texture of a thick, speckled paper that would be used in pack-aging. The design communicates quality with the use of old-style imagery, however it also personifies current design properties that are fun, enticing, and interesting. The brand is best communicated through this logo because it stays withing the conceived idea of what a brand,

such as tea, should look like, while capitalizing on the modern attractive qualities of a youthful, natural, and fresh brand.

narrative

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