Luxury Tea

As a Visual Designer at TEALEAVES, I collaborated with two other designers on packaging and web projects. I was also responsible for organizing company assets and leading Quality Assurance for all files.

A sample of the previous packaging

The updated packaging

Pantone Collaboration

TEALEAVES sought to redesign their Whole Leaf Pyramid Teabag collection, moving away from outdated and cluttered packaging to a more modern, minimalist look. This marked the company’s first collaboration with the Pantone Color Institute which selected ten new colors for each tea. TEALEAVES assigned a mood to help bring out the story of each tea. Taking inspired from both the colour and the mood, a watercoloured illustrations of animals representing the essence of each tea.

With the team, we set to work on designing a total of ten tea envelopes, ten retail boxes, ten mastercases, and a gift box. We explored various box options, paper textures, and specialty printing techniques. A standout design was a tall, matchbox-style box with sliding drawers which would allow for access to the teas from either side. Cafes and restaurants can puncture the bottom for easy accessibility for the teas. Selective areas were blind embossed for an elevated appearance.

The redesign was a great success, with positive feedback from clients, particularly hotels adopting the new packaging. The business development team noted that the refreshed design made it easier to sell to new clients.

The Collection: Gift Box

A new addition to the Pyramid Teabag collection is the gift box containing 30 tea bags with a small booklet of tea recipes. The tea recipes were specially created by top mixologists from TEALEAVES' many top hotel partners. The box design was inspired by the luxurious experience of opening premium chocolate packaging. We wanted the recipient to know that they were receiving luxury quality teas. We carefully selected materials and added subtle details, like a green foil logo, to emphasize the high-end nature of the product. A wrap around the box provided additional product information and highlighted the collaboration.

#PaletteForYourPalate

The #PaletteForYourPalate campaign featured collaborations with various hotel properties and restaurants to create nearly 30 tea recipes, complete with videos featured on a microsite. This project required managing multiple design tasks under tight deadlines, including producing over 200 social media assets within a week. I also reviewed 26 packaging designs for branding, copywriting, and print preparation.

The campaign garnered significant attention from design publications like The Dieline, Design Taxi, Newswire, Fine Dining Lovers, Montecristo Magazine, and mental_floss. We were also nominated for a 2016 Webby Award.