Loose Tea Leaf Packaging

The product line I chose for this packaging project is loose tea leaf. I'd like to narrow down my focus to a specific type of Chinese green tea named DragonWell because it is the symbol of my hometown and I'm excited to bring something personal to the design. I conceptualize the product to signify peace, calm and delicacy since DragonWell is a pretty high-end tea product. In contrast to fermented Oolong or black tea, the idea way to truly experience the fine quality of DragonWell green tea is to put dried tea leaves into a clear glass teacup for brewing so that we can sea the tender leaves floating. 

Brewed GragonWell tea

The outer packaging will be a bigger square box. The inner packaging will consist of 9 square flat boxes, each (hypothetically) containing about 2-3 teaspoons of dried leaves so that every individual box is good for one glass teacup (about 10 oz of water). I'm thinking of combining traditional Chinese watercolor painting with modern Western design concept.

I went to the Metropolitan Museum for inspiration. Unfortunately, Chinese calligraphy and paintings are not on display. So I checked out Japanese and Korean artworks instead.

I also got more inspiration from the contemporary artwork exhibition when constructing my color palettes. 

Working progress:

• Logo & Business card: I really the texture and delicacy of Chinese seals so I worked with this concept for the logo. I named the product "Ming" (see the character below), which means superior tea in Ancient Chinese. 

Logo: Ming

Business card front

Business card back

• Outer box lid: I'd like to bring something personal to this project so I used a map of my hometown and manipulated the texture to make it more hand-made. For the final presentation, the lid will be printed on a transparent piece of paper so that we can see the smaller boxes inside of it.

Outer box packaging

• Inner box: I made some variations based on the map concept so it connects well with the outer box lid. The watercolor fill is intended to convey a sense of authenticity and delicacy. I'll split the graphic into 9 pieces so each small inner box will be a part of the map and come together like a puzzle piece.

  

  Inner box packaging

• Prototype

• Final packaging product