How I Designed A Colorful Tea Brand

A peek into my creative process, and 5 resources I use to become a better designer.

The first time I had a cup of real loose leaf tea, I was in middle school. As a proper Floridian, I had sweet tea many times. On a boat, by a lake, and while wrangling an alligator - sweet tea is a staple of the South.

However, loose leaf tea, the kind served in a white ceramic cup with a small kettle on the side, came into my life as a 13 year old. My mom and I had stumbled into the newly built Oxford Exchange in Tampa around Christmas time. There, I haphazardly ordered a “peppermint fog,” which was a peppermint bark black tea with frothed milk and a pump of vanilla.

It was there, with my fancy cup, that my 12 year old life changed course. I laid down the Capri Suns and Sprites of the past, and I had one beverage on my mind - TEA! With this transformation also came the unbearable weight of 2012ish hipsterism i.e. sweaters with woodland animals, fake glasses, tumblr, and the fever to purchase broken antique cameras. While I’ve since retired most of the symbols of my middle school renaissance, loose leaf tea has remained a constant in my life.

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I owned a store for a number of years called Twenty Seven. I sold art prints, cards, candles, home decor, and all sorts of colorful whimsical things. During 2020, I launched a complete line of loose leaf tea for my business. Inspired by my love for color and feeling, I named each blend after a specific feeling and assigned it a color. The goal was to make loose leaf tea of incredibly high quality become incredibly fun and approachable.

While my storefront closed, the tea business has continued and rebranded as Color Theory Tea. I am the brand owner, creative director, and the packaging designer!

We are gearing up to launch a whole line of tea sachets, and I just finished the packaging design for each blend’s box.

I thought I could pull back the curtain and tell the stories of some of these designs.

With just one walk down a grocery aisle, we are bombarded by packaging design and give its origins very little thought. I’m here with insight into my design process, the story behind the colorful boxes, and an opportunity to chat HERE!

I’d love to answer any design/color/feeling questions and converse in the comments, if you’d like to share!

My Design Process:

1. Think first - who is this for?

   1. While I hope the colorful boxes jump out and delight everyone’s eyes, the purpose behind the colors is much more intentional than random. With any product design, I start by empathizing with the end user. I think (deeply) about who I am designing for, what they like, what they don’t like, and what may catch their eye. What brings THEM joy? What does this blend of tea offer them?

2. Consider - what is my design up against?

   1. For these tea boxes - I studied the grocery store tea aisle and observed all the boxes were generally very crowded in their design. They had a lot of text, color, and pattern. Although I have absolutely NOTHING but respect for the sleepytime bear, I knew I wanted to create packaging that really stands out. This set me on the path of bold color, simple shapes, minimal design, and very easy-to-read text.

      

3. Color, color, color!

   1. Use the basics of color psychology to tell powerful stories with color. Every Color Theory Tea blend is assigned two color codes that are very significant to their blend and telling the tea’s story.

   2. For example, my Bubblegum tea has a pink and a teal color assigned to it. This tropical green tea blend has butterfly pea-flower in it, and therefore when brewed, it is a dreamy teal-colored tea. I chose teal for the packaging to represent the color of the tea itself. The flavor is so tropical and whimsical, that it reminded me of bubblegum in its scent (hence the fun name). I chose a bright pink color create a sense of bubblegum-popping nostalgia (bazooka zooka bubblegum).

   3. For Chai, I chose a creamy off-white tone and burnt red. I chose off-white to represent milky foam from the most popular way to drink chai - the latte! I chose burnt red to represent India, as it is the origin of Chai, and has a rich cultural significance tied to the color red.

These are our loose leaf bag designs that inspired the box designs:

5. The graphic elements

   1. I wanted to create an icon for each tea that was both whimsical and minimal. I used a combination of abstract pattern design, and sometimes a very literal interpretation of each tea to create an icon that stood out against the colored backdrop.

5 incredible resources I use to become a better designer:

1. I Love Creatives: Not only do they offer graphic and web design courses, their website hosts a selection of incredibly inspiring “internet gems” for inspiration.

2. Wabi Sabi: I’ve been reading this book and it’s been deeply inspiring for both interior and graphic design philosophy.

3. Where Joy Hides Ted Talk: I always come back to this one. Ingrid is an incredible researcher and speaker and her work has deeply inspired my pursuit of joy through design.

4. The Secret Lives of Color: This book has been a wonderful resource as I make important color decisions. It tells the history of how certain shades of color came to be.

5. How to Be A Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul: This is another book I believe is a library essential for a designer. It is more about practice and philosophy, but definitely helps anyone considering a career in design.

Bonus - I save all sorts of inspiration to my Pinterest boards, if you ever need a whimsical inspiration boost, here’s the link!

Do you love design and have any resources I should add to the list? Please feel free to share in the comments!