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Packaging Design: Assignment 1



2nd May 2017
Packaging and Visual Merchandising
Assignment 1: Yeo's Tea Repackaging
The Brief
Yeo’s has come out with a new flavor Tea: Iced Tea Lychee. As a part of a brand extension activity, Yeo’s Malaysia is looking for a new fresh design for its new flavored tea.
Task
Study the existing design for Yeo’s existing flavored tea. You are required to design the bottle label for the new product and also propose a new design for the existing flavor in order to create a consistent look on the design.
Requirement
Design 1 new design for the new flavor and two new designs for existing flavor on actual bottle. You are required to use “A natural and refreshing way to quench your thirst on a hot day” as part of the design.
Process

 We were told by our lecturer that we could identify our own target market, and to make the design process easier, I decided to work on something that would look attractive to young people in particular, although hopefully it can still appeal to other age groups. The pictures below show the process in chronological order.

 I started out by sketching some bottle shapes, which I did for some sort of warm-up despite it not being required. It also proved to be a good practice to look at references for different shapes of the bottle and how it affects the placement and dimensions of the label (e.g. mineral water label vs. tea label). Afterwards, I made some illustration sketches pertaining the flavors of the drinks and visual that are usually associated with them. I also tried examining potential patterns from the visuals.

 Personally, I believe in the beauty of simplicity in design, but in the case of this assignment, I do not think that (extreme) minimalism would work. My opinion stands for most food/beverage products. Stripping down design to its bare essentials can be a really powerful tool, but when applied to food/beverage packagings, I feel as though it takes away the spirit of it (I admit that I'm not doing a great job putting my thoughts into words). I'm not saying that making minimalist packaging design is bad per se, but imagine how boring it would be if a supermarket isle is filled with white/grey bottles with icon-like visuals as indicators of flavors and such. Additionally, with this assignment in mind, minimalist design could lead to people assuming that the product is expensive; Evian, for example. 
Left page: bottle shape, right page: illustration/pattern

 With that in mind, I decided to use hand-drawn watercolor illustrations for a more homey/comfortable look. I thought that in a world where minimalism is everywhere, something rustic-looking has the potential to look more appealing, giving people a break from the cold, sleek minimalist style.
Testing out watercolor illustrations
Illustration: Jasmine green tea
Illustration: Ice tea lemon
Illustration: Ice tea lychee

 These illustrations were then scanned and made into patterns that I would use later on as the background of each label.


Patterns: Jasmine green tea
Patterns: Ice tea lychee
Patterns: Ice tea lemon
A hand-lettering typeface was chosen to further compliment the homey look. Details such as nutrition facts, ingredients, etc. were added after the final layout is complete. Note that the required copy, "A natural and refreshing way to quench your thirst on a hot day", is placed below the illustration in both English and Bahasa. I used Spritzer's flavored water, TINGE, and Oishi's Green Tea as references for the contents of the label. Other important information, such as the Halal-certified symbol and appropriate icons (recyclable, dispose in trashcan), are also included in the label.

Final wrap-around label: Ice tea lemon
Final wrap-around label: Jasmine green tea
Final wrap-around label: Iced tea lychee
Below is a picture of the labels placed onto a bottle as a mock-up. 
Final bottle mock-ups

Reflections

 Honestly speaking, I am not satisfied with how I performed for this assignment. First and foremost, I feel that there is a lack of style experimentation on my part—the decisions I made were instantaneous, and I was not aware that I was not considering other options. You could say that the end result was true to what I intended (homey, rustic, comfortable), but I did not try out different layouts or backgrounds in achieving it. This is a result of, most likely, poor time management (more time spent on other ongoing modules), which I will try to improve on.

 Some changes that I would make if I have the chance to, without scraping the overall design style even if I want to: 
  1. The background—maybe lower opacity, or a different thing altogether. The slashes of color can be removed and the background could be a solid color. I noticed that the background for the iced tea lemon has a purplish looking shadow, while the other two do not, which is a careless mistake on my part. 
  2. The typeface—looking at the bottle mockup, the product's names may not look so clear. I could instead have a bold typeface running across the label. 
  3. The color—somehow the difference in color is bugging me ("Jasmine Green Tea" is in green, while the other two are in red). The reason behind this is that red vibrates against green, and vice versa. Perhaps some other color could fit more?
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