Packaging and Merchandising Design - Task2:Taylors Coffee Cup Design

October 23, 2024

7.Oct.2024-25.Oct.2024 (Week3-Week6)

QIAN GUOYI / 0369462 / Bachelor of Design (Honors) in Creative Media

Brand Corporate Identity / Taylors University

Task2:Taylors Coffee Cup Design

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LECTURES

Week4:

Packaging and Merchandising DesignBoxes type and boxes styles

Common box types:

Common Types of Boxes,Folding Cartons,Rigid Boxes,Set-up Boxes,Cardboard Boxes,Corrugated Boxes,Paperboard Boxes

1.Folding Cartons：

Rigid Boxes.Rigid boxes (set-up boxes) are sturdier and do not fold or collapse as folding cartons do.They are often, not always used for higher end products where perceived value is important.They are also used when the product within is heavy and in need of extra support. Common Types of Boxes

2.Rigid Boxes

Corrugated Boxes.Also called corrugated board, corrugated fibreboard or combined board.Commonly refer as brown cardboard boxes.Typically has three layers.A wavy or fluted layer sandwiched between two outer flat layersCommon Types of Boxes

3.Corrugated Boxes

 Corrugated BoxesCorrugated is also commonly used as a primary retail packaging the same way a folding carton is used.Corrugated fiber is also commonly used in floor POP displays Common Types of Boxes.

Box Styles:Common Elements in Folded Cartons.There are many variety of different box styles for folding cartons or paperboard boxes. It is just not for style but in dimensions as well. Most common box styles are TUCK TOP.

The instructor explores the various box types in packaging, including folding cartons, cardboard boxes, and corrugated boxes. It details common box styles such as reverse folding ends, straight folding ends, folding top lock bottom, and folding top automatic bottom, and discusses their advantages, disadvantages, and typical industry applications. Understanding these differences can greatly help companies choose the right packaging for their products.

Week5:

Packaging design rules

Know Your Customer: Understanding your target audience influences design choices, ensuring that packaging meets their preferences and needs. Tailoring designs for different demographics increases their effectiveness. 

Form follows function: Packaging must effectively perform its primary role. While creativity is important, design should prioritize product usability, allowing consumers to easily interact with the product. 

Simplicity sells: In a cluttered market, minimalist design stands out. A simple, clear approach can reduce consumer confusion and enhance appeal, thereby increasing sales. 

Consider Brand: Packaging should communicate a brand's unique story and values. A strong brand image on packaging fosters customer loyalty and recognition in a competitive environment. 

Test, test, test: Iterative design and testing are essential. Seeking feedback from peers and potential customers can reveal insights to improve the final product, ensuring it meets market expectations. 

Know Your Competitors: Competitive analysis helps identify market trends and winning strategies. Understanding your competitors can inspire innovation and differentiate your product. 

Prime Printing: The final print quality directly affects consumer perception. Working with an experienced printer ensures that the packaging lives up to the design, resulting in a positive customer experience. 

INSTRUCTIONS

Project 1: Coffee cup

In this assignment, we need to use minimalism, the target group is young people with environmental awareness, and the logo will use the Taylors logo.

Brand concept

Forest Whisper Café is committed to providing natural and organic coffee and baked goods, focusing on health and environmental protection, while creating an atmosphere of relaxation and integration with nature. Customers can enjoy fresh air, green plants, talk to nature, and taste a cup of environmentally friendly and natural coffee in this green space.

Target audience

Young consumers with strong environmental awareness

Coffee culture enthusiasts

Minimalists

Nature and sustainable development theme

Forest Whisper Café will use renewable and recyclable materials in packaging and store design, such as bamboo fiber cups and recycled paper packaging, to minimize the impact on the environment. Coffee beans will be purchased from environmentally friendly farms to ensure that they meet ecological planting standards. The store is also powered by energy, such as solar energy, and reduces waste by saving energy and water. The brand will encourage customers to bring their own cups to reduce bulk packaging. For every cup of coffee sold, the brand will also participate in tree planting or support environmental protection

Brand visual image:

Logo design: The brand logo can use simple lines and natural elements.

Color matching: The main color of the brand can be natural colors such as green, brown and beige, conveying an environmentally friendly, natural and sustainable atmosphere.

Packaging design: The packaging should be simple and environmentally friendly, highlight the texture of natural materials, reduce the use of plastics, and emphasize degradable or recyclable logos in a prominent position.

Brand name

Forest Whisper Café

Forest Whisper Café is a brand name of a cafe full of natural atmosphere and tranquility, conveying a sense of dialogue with nature. The name evokes the whispers of the forest and the soothing environment, which is very suitable for cafes that highlight environmental protection, sustainable development and natural lifestyle.

Minimalist design trend

Simplify design elements: Minimalist design focuses on simplicity, removes unnecessary decorations, highlights core functions and environmental protection concepts, and avoids complexity.

Use of environmentally friendly materials: Use a single material or degradable and recyclable materials to reduce the burden on the environment.

Minimalist colors and patterns: Reduce the use of colors and patterns, and emphasize the beauty and natural characteristics of the material itself.

Visual and functional: The design is both stylish and simple, and functionally efficient, meeting the needs of modern consumers for practicality and environmental protection.

Advocate an environmentally friendly lifestyle: Through design, consumers are guided to pursue a simple and environmentally friendly lifestyle and reduce overconsumption.

Artistic coffee culture

With the accelerated pace of modern life, coffee has become a part of many people's daily lives. At the same time, coffee culture has gradually evolved from a simple beverage experience to a unique symbol of art, culture and environmental protection. Against this background, Forest Whisper Café combines art and environmental protection.

Fusion of coffee and art:

Coffee is regarded as an art form, from the selection of coffee beans, roasting methods, to brewing and latte art, all of which reflect exquisite craftsmanship and creativity.

Latte art is a typical representative of this, creating floral, heart-shaped or complex patterns to enhance the drinking experience.

Space design of coffee shops:

Focus on visual beauty, use unique decorations and artworks such as murals, sculptures or photography to create a creative atmosphere.

Minimalist design and modern art styles are often used in the layout of coffee shops, highlighting the openness and tranquility of the space, encouraging customers to relax and immerse themselves.

Creativity and personalization: Provide unique coffee drinks and food creative combinations, such as coffee creations that combine different cultural elements, to attract customers who are interested in fresh experiences.

Visual reference：

The colors we choose are more environmentally friendly, for example, kraft paper and green.

Fig1.1Visual Example 1

Fig1.2 Visual Example 2

Fig1.3 Visual Example 3

This was a first attempt at a look that we made based on the visual references we chose, the colors we drew from them.

Fig1.4 First attempt

We made some changes based on the lecturer's suggestions to make the logo more unified.

Design Description 1: Minimalist Color Coffee Cup

The design is based on the concept of environmental protection and minimalism, showing the functionality and aesthetics of the coffee cup in a natural and low-key style. By reducing unnecessary decorations, the focus is on the selection of materials and the sustainability of the product. The cup body is made of degradable and recoverable materials, such as corn starch, kraft paper or recycled pulp, to ensure that it can be naturally layered after use to reduce pollution to the environment. The cup lid is made of reusable silicone or degradable.

Appearance Design

Using gentle matte tones, such as the light gray color of design 1, Taylor's text surrounds the bottom of the cup. For design 2, we used warm beige, light gray and light yellow. There is no complicated pattern on the cup body.

Fig2.1

Design Description 2: Minimalist Environmentally Friendly Coffee Cup

The design concept of this coffee cup

With environmental protection and minimalism as the core, it focuses on natural tones, and uses a combination of light green and dark green, which not only symbolizes environmental protection, but also gives a fresh and simple visual experience. The entire cup body is covered with the brand logo, conveying a bold brand attitude and highlighting the brand's sense of environmental responsibility. 100% biodegradable natural plant composite fiber materials, such as bamboo fiber, are used to minimize resource waste through the application of environmentally friendly materials. The cup cover uses food-grade recyclable silicone, which is safe and non-toxic, and can prevent the contents of the cup from leaking.

The overall appearance design of this design one coffee cup is light green, and the front of the cup body is covered with a large area of ​​dark green logo, which directly conveys the brand concept and presents a green, simple and atmospheric style. The dark green logo and the light green cup body highlight the contrast, which is both beautiful and low-key environmentally friendly. Design two is matched with bright green to highlight the brand's sense of environmental responsibility. There are no decorative elements on the cup body, maintaining the purity of the minimalist design, making the logo the visual center focus.

Fig2.2

Design Description 3: Natural Pure Color Environmentally Friendly Coffee Cup

Design Concept

Through the design concept of "natural purity", it emphasizes the natural texture and minimalist style of environmentally friendly materials. It uses plant-based composite materials to ensure biodegradability and pollution-free. The cup lid is made of environmentally friendly silicone.

Appearance Design

The pure color design of the cup body, design 1 uses soft beige or dark green, and design 2 adds some irregular and random beige lines under the same color, which is not eye-catching but brings a calm and natural visual experience.

Fig2.3

PDF：

FEEDBACK

Week 4: The instructor praised our colors and hoped that we would continue to complete the expansion diagram and 3D diagram of Adobe Illustrator

Week5：Be careful not to use a hollow logo, make sure the logo size is not too big or too small, use uniform fonts, pay attention to the shape of the 3D packaging content, and create a surrounding font.

REFLECTION

1. Discovery

In the early stage of designing environmentally friendly packaging, we found that the combination of kraft paper color and green not only conforms to the theme of sustainable development, but also conveys the concept of nature and environmental protection. This color scheme is relatively popular in the market, but to be minimalist and recognizable, it is still necessary to enhance the visual appeal through reasonable color matching, font design and graphic arrangement. In addition, in the process of designing graphic packaging and 3D renderings, maintaining uniform colors and simple designs can better attract young consumers with strong environmental awareness.

2. Observation

It is observed that minimalist style is becoming more and more popular among young people, especially for environmentally friendly products, simple design seems to be able to convey the naturalness and purity of the brand. The use of green and kraft paper color not only brings a visual sense of environmental protection, but also matches the product concept of "harmless and degradable". Through different 3D effect displays, it is found that minimalist style often does not appear messy when displayed at different angles, and is suitable for presentation on multiple media, especially when adapted to a variety of promotional platforms, and it is not easy to lose the core visual effect.

3. Experience

In this design task, we have accumulated experience from graphic design to 3D display, and realized that the connection between graphic packaging and 3D display is a very critical part. The packaging design should not only meet the aesthetics of the graphic vision, but also reflect the texture of the details in the 3D rendering. Through multiple debugging of the unfolded drawing, we have a better understanding of how to seamlessly transition the 2D design to the 3D object and ensure the complete presentation of every detail. At the same time, the use of green and kraft paper color matching and minimalist design style also reminds us to continue to pay attention to the expression of environmental protection themes in future designs, and bring out the brand concept in simplicity.