To be continued...

This may be the end. . . . . . . . . . . . .

but this will be back in a few months.


AND MUCH BETTER THAN THIS....
but for now, enjoy AWAKEN:

MINI ZIGGURAT PACKAGE

Well I figured I should try and utilize the package template book that Natacha let me borrow. I found a simple, trapezoidal shaped container that might be perfect for a little bag of tea to rest in. A problem is that the package can't hold a lot of tea...We're going to have to expand it. It wouldn't make sense to have to buy a lot of these little boxes for a larger quantity when someone could just buy a bigger version which holds more tea. It has potential though.

I updated my logo too... The shape that rests between AWAKEN and the rising sun is representation of some sort of landform found on earth. The color choices depict these landforms (and water forms) as: ocean for the blue shape, a grassy valley for the green shape, and mountainous areas for the brown/tan shape. To communicate this better, I used the color in the land/water form for the name of the flavor and even incorporated the forms into the names blatantly (maybe I can get more poetic?)

TIME TO AWAKEN

This is where I am as of now. The shapes are a compilation of all the sunrise iterations shown in the previous post. The colors are picked from the peeking image in the screenshot. I see the sunrise as a symbol of awakening, enlightenment, awareness. These words relate to the idea of sustainable, eco-friendly packaging. People are awakening, becoming more enlightened, and aware of the importance of using sustainable products / materials. The triangle symbolizes an upward movement or progression. It's also the most stable shape that I know of. The stability reflects in the product being a product of lasting qualities....

sunrise over the natives

Here is a compilation in sequential order of what has been going on over the past week. I went from squirrels to abstract leaf/alien-men back to my initial idea of integrating a sunrise:

Natacha and I discovered some hidden native american undertones in the initial abstract leafs. She saw a teepee some of the leaves and asked me to further investigate native american patterns. Doing so, I enjoyed playing with geometric shapes like the triangle and circle. The last row of marks were particularly enjoyable to see at the end of one session and were a major influence on the mark and type that I see as almost final... hopefully....... :) 

As far as packaging is concerned, I am still stuck on my idea to use a small cosmetic bag with a zipper top. I would like to use either organic cotton as the material or hemp. I don't want to use too much ink in the product, so the bag will be of a beige, sand, or tan color. On the bag will be a sewn front label with the AWAKEN logo, flavor of tea, and quantity. The back will have another sewn label with nutrition facts, company spiels, and instructions.  Here are some visuals:

(Minus the embellishments and blue section)

The squirrel will come to life

I am fond of the idea of using a squirrel as the visual representation for AWAKEN TEA. I associate squirrels with the morning hours of the day; I always see them scurrying around my yard as they collect the little acorns as squirrels do. They are totally dependent upon nature for their survival. Because sustainability is driving this assignment and I am leaning toward using environmentaly-based packaging, a squirrel might help consumers make the connection. I see the squirrel as a friendly, gender neutral mark. A subtle suggest of a leaf is even possible within the tail (I may not even bother though).

LONG AWAITED

Ah the good old Green Teahouse, where should I begin?

I won't lie, I got some really good insight into the world of a few types of tea (oolong, green, & pu-erh), but the women doing the hosting / presentation revealed a few too many things that was distracting. I'll get into that after.

For the most part, she was extremely professional with the presentation of the tea experience (even with the slurping part). I was surprised at how easy it is to brew and drink loose leaf tea. I always thought you needed crazy filters and special teapots. The truth is you just need a little patience and maybe two teapots if you wish to not brew the leaves in a separate container than the container that heated the water. Her filtration system was just using the pots top to allow enough space for the water (now tea) to flow through. This is a big deal to me because honestly I was one of those people who looked at drinking loose leaf tea as too complex and requiring too many utensils. She showed me I was wrong and I hope I can pass that information/instruction in my designs for Awaken. I mentioned after my first visit to grocery stores that possibly loose leaf tea was not a hit at stores like Big Y or Stop&Shop because consumers might not be educated enough and possibly intimidated (just like I was).

I never have been able to experience tea in the way that she allowed us to. I don't think I have ever smelled the aroma of tea before I drink it as if it was wine. Of course I have smelled good tea before, but never to actually appreciate it. I've more or less just happen to smell a good tea, but never to this extent. Nor have I ever swished my tea and so that "it hits all parts of my mouth," like I was instructed to. I felt like I was at a wine tasting, but for tea...(do they have those?) She also made me realize how much I am missing out prior to this experience of the exhale that inevitably follows me swallowing my sip. The after taste of those teas were just as good as the initial taste I had when I was swishing in my mouth; if not better. I felt like I had snorted a bouquet of roses. This really surprised me due to the fact that she said she brewed the teas lightly. The color of the water was so pale, but it packed a good punch.

I wasn't exactly moved by the tea sets; I suppose I don't give the cups much thought. I will say though that the ceramic teapot that looked like wood had me fooled (as well as Natacha). I figured she was going to say that the wood was used from centuries old trees that cost thousands of dollars, but no it was just ceramic material... I'm so used to drinking tea out of a mug, so drinking out of those dinky little glass cups made me realize the delicacy of Chinese tea.

Now my complaints:
Why have I been fooled to think that blossoming tea is so appealing when it was just created to sell to us dumb Americans. The women flat out said that Chinese do not drink that tea...It was just created to sell for profit..That really surprised me. She also made numerous comments about the prices people are paying for other kinds of teas or tea experiences. I'm pretty sure the numbers were in the thousands to sit at a nice tea bar and enjoy premium tea. God better have hand picked those leaves and autographed it in silver Sharpie in order for me to consider paying that amount... Maybe she was confusing thousands of dollars for hundred of dollars, but I was taken aback by the numbers she was throwing around for tea...

I thought I asked a good question after the presentation about what kind of material loose leaf tea should not go in, but the language barrier killed the answer. She didn't really understand what I was saying and I didn't take the time to ask the question in a simpler way. Maybe that's my fault then. She was just so darn cute that I couldn't really get mad at her for not answering properly, but I blame the language difference on that and some of her presentation. I will say that if someone who was better with English gave that presentation, a lot more knowledge might have been gained from the experience, but I won't complain! She did an amazing job and gave me enough insight to know not to allow air and light to ruin my package design. She even let me slurp and not feel immature; I can't go wrong with that.

Clean up in the Tea isle.

I finally made it into some stores to analyze the tea isle... Some observations I made right off the bat is that bagged tea dominates our more common, middle-class going grocery stores. I am almost certain that only one store carried ONE brand of actual loose leaf tea. Twinnings of London was the only tin canned loose leaf tea that I saw. I'm pretty certain that its the demographics of this area. Perhaps no one expects tea buyers to be indulging in premium, loose leaf tea all that often. And because of this I suppose grocery stores don't feel the need to purchase loose leaf brands and fill their isles up with it. What a damn shame.

Mighty Leaf, a modern looking and innovative tea company, did something clever in my eyes. They were able to make an appearance on these common grocery store's shelves because they BAGGED LOOSE LEAF TEA... I see this as a way to familiarize themselves with tea buyers who are comfortable and familiar purchasing tea that is bagged. I would imagine that people are either intimidated by the process of brewing loose leaf tea, don't really have the time or patience, or they may not even know that tea comes in loose leaf form. Mighty Leaf was able to solve those problems with their biodegradable bags holding full leaves. Smart smart smart people over there.

I understand that this final design // product will be targeting earth conscientious, educated people (who may not shop at common stores like Big Y, Stop&Shop, or Shop Rite), but I do want my final product to reach other classes of people as well. I was thinking of doing this by including biodegradable tea bags similar to those offered by Mighty Leaf. Yes, the container would hold the raw, unpacked loose leaf tea, but the option would be available to pack it into a teabag for an easy on-the-go solution.

Another thing that disappointed me was where the premium tea sat on the shelves in these middle-class grocery stores. They were all located far below eye level, almost on the last shelf. Could it be because they were the most expensive? One of the premium teas offered that was packaged in a tin container (from China) was a little over 10$. I would assume that this would be intimidating to most shoppers, but I don't agree with hiding it on the bottom. It should be closer to eye level so that consumers can at least see that there are more options of quality (regardless of price).

I need to make a visit to the Whole Foods Market in West Hartford so I can see how their tea isle looks. I anticipate higher prices, different packaging from the common cardboard box, and more premium loose leaf tea.

Here are some photos from my time in the stores:

Kudos to NUMI for the soy ink usage