The Project Background
The tea and beverage company RUNA had recently developed new branding for their ready-to-drink tea bottles. Their goal was to develop new brand design that was simple yet striking and stood out on the store shelves.
The next step in their process was to deploy the new brand design to other product packaging – specifically the boxes for their tea bags. It was an excellent opportunity to address a variety of improvements they wanted to make to the structure of the tea bag box packaging. A mutual colleague, Madécasse chocolate, connected us with the Runa team to craft the delivery of the new brand design to the tea boxes, address the structure changes needed for the packaging, and produce the final tea boxes.
Step 1. New Tea Box Creative to Match the New Brand Design
The first task in the project was to create new tea box illustrations and design that would be consistent with the new brand design created by the other agency for the RUNA ready-to-serve tea bottle labels.
The tea boxes featured different flavors than the read-to-serve tea bottles. Because of these different flavors new illustrations were required – in the style created by another agency. RUNA needed the illustrations that we created for the tea boxes to match seamlessly with the brand design developed for the bottles.
Sketch Icon Concepts
Since we did not create the original illustrations being used on the ready-to-serve tea bottles, and because the tea boxes came in different flavors than the bottles, we worked with several graphic designers to sketch several different ideas to get the right feel for the new icons for the tea boxes.
Create Illustrations from the Sketches
Once we were satisfied that we had explored the sketches enough to understand the nuances of the original illustrations the graphic designers created the final versions of the illustrations for the new tea box designs.
Step 2. Create Mock Ups for Updated Box Design
Once the graphic design for the boxes was complete, multiple prototypes of the new packaging were created for review and final approval. During this mock up phase we created multiple prototypes, examining a variety of factors such as:
- paper material selection
- paper weight (also referred to as caliper)
- coatings
- die cutting operation requirements
- and perfing
Special considerations were also given to the life cycle of the box, including:
- How will it be filled with the material (tea bags), closed, and packed in cartons
- Shipping
- Unpacking and placement on shelves at the store
- Consumer use of the package
- Temperatures throughout the box’s life cycle
Step 3. Print Production
For the tea box production we wanted the box to mimic a real leaf to give it tactile feel. We achieved this by running the packages with a 3D embossing on just the areas that have the flavor illustration. This effect subtly encourages the customer to pick up the package to look closer with the goal of converting to a sale.
The tea box structure went through extensive revisions. Items adjusted included the “teeth” – perforation on a portion of the box that allowed the consumer to access the bags in the box. Additionally a panel on the box tended to “blow out” when placed on the store shelves.
The final product that consumers pulled off the shelves entailed complex details to ensure not just a creative design that lived up to the brand, but also packaging that represented the brand well and delivered a superior experience to the consumer.
Just a glimpse of the intricate detail that went into this project included:
- Aqueous coating
- Submission of specs to nearly 10 print producers, each carefully selected to bid on the project as a result of their unique capabilities to produce this type of project.
- 3D embossing
In the end the selection of the printer depended on not just price but details that emerged in conversations and quotes with each supplier. The goal for Runa Tea was a supplier who would consistently deliver a superior product.
In Summary – What the Project Was Really About
At first glance this project appeared to be about the creative and brand design – delivering their new “look” to one of their other product lines.
Here’s what the project was really about – supporting the client to achieve a superior end result.
To accomplish this objective we employed our skill and experience to select the best vendors and suppliers for the project at hand. This process of vetting involved:
- clearly defining the deliverables
- identifying obstacles and potential pinch points
- challenging each vendor to expand on their unique contributions to the project
- knowing the questions to ask
- experience with how to drill down in the discussions and ensure that particular details were outlined fully
- asking clarifying questions to established that communications were well understood
Sometimes there’s nothing like experience with similar projects to ensure you can meet a customers desired end result.
Because out team has run similar projects many, many times over the years, we come to the table with knowledge, experience, and foresight.
It’s the nuances derived from those years of experience, from working on such a diverse group of similar projects, that allow us to see problems before they happen, address the challenges that inevitably come up during a process, and see a project through to an end that meets everything the client intended.
Do you have a complex project coming up? Looking to work with an experienced team. Read more about the advantages of working with us. We’d enjoy learning about your project and discussing how we could assist your team.