YCN 2015 Rebecca Shaw U1352953
The Challenge Your challenge is to innovate around our product,and to design something (be it physical or experiential) that will engage and benefit our younger customers. It can be a packaging or format idea, a new way to drink tea, something that adds to the tea drinking experience or even a simple design tweak to our existing product. Think about the tea drinking experience, how it can be improved but also how our consumers love a ‘Proper Brew’. This doesn’t have to be a revolution, small changes can give just as much impact. The important thing is bringing the product idea to life. Think about the different types of people within our target audience. We’re looking for a creative product idea. You should explore packaging, format, occasion and usage. This is not a communication or campaign brief. The output here should be Product Innovation. As well as bringing your idea to life visually in as much detail as possible, please also provide a written summary of it in less than 300 words.
The Brand Yorkshire Tea is a family run British tea brand that has ran for three generations. The Prince of Wales has even rewarded them with the Royal Coat of Arms, which can be seen on the packaging.
I created a moodboard that defined the brand and included some images of Yorkshire. This was to get a sense of what natural colours to use on the packaging to represent Yorkshire.
I also included some images of collectables they sell. This is because I could create a new innovative product to add to the collection.
TheTarget Audience
Yorkshire Tea feel that the amount of people drinking tea is on the decline. More people are now beginning to favour coffee, especially with the number of coffee shops in the high streets. Their main audience at the minute is very broad with ages 35+ split evenly between male and female. However, Yorkshire Tea would like to target the 18 - 35 group, which is something to bear in mind when creating ideas.
Target Audience
Trends I started to research general trends of drinking tea on Pinterest. I found that there were a few different approaches I could take with the project. The first was to redesign the packaging. There are many different nets for a box and by redesigning the packaging, it might appeal to the younger audience. My particular favourite that I found was Leafy Tea. I thought that the packaging was clean and simple, but still looked appealing. I like the idea of having a window in the box, as I thought that this could reveal the logo of the brand. Since Yorkshire Tea’s slogan is ‘Proper Brew’, I found infographics for tea drinking. I thought that I could create an inforgraphic on how to make the perfect cup of tea, that could go on the back of the packaging, similar to cooking instructions.
Trends
Another trend that I found was ideas for the tea bag. I found products that held the tea bag in place, and also packaging that soacked up the tea bag so it didn’t spill.
Tea Preferences I created a survey to get a sense of how prople prefered their tea. 14 males and 15 females answered the survey, that were a range of different ages. I found that most drank 2 cups of tea a day favouring supermarket own brand’s, PG Tips or Tetley. The majority of the people drank tea at home and just under half drank tea at work. The majority also added milk to their tea extremely often, the rest not often at all. Half of the people didn’t really add sugar to their tea, but those who did add 2 spoonsful of sugar to theor tea. I found that the majority of the people steeped their tea between 1-3 minutes.
Net Research SLEEVE
WINDOW
UNUSUAL
LID
Net Sketchs After researching some different designs for nets, I began doing some quick sketches of basic designs. I annotated these designs with pros and cons. I found that some would be hard to stack on shelves or the design would break. I found that the designs that would fit a large volume were very basic so I began deveoping the sketches. I found that the best way to further the design was to add a sleeve or a lid that overlaps. By cutting out the lid or sleeve or creating a window, it made the design more interesting. I’m going to develop a few of the designs further on Illustrator and start add colour. My favourite designs so far is a rectangle box with a sleeve or lid, with a cut out to reveal the logo underneath.
Colours After looking at nets I began thinking about what colours I would use for the packaging. After conducting soem research online I found that people liked the current box as it reminded them of Yorkshire, with the views that are currently on it. Sticking with the Yorkshire Tea theme of red, I colour picked different shades of red that are used in their adverts. I also decided to stick with the theme of yorkshire and colour picked different shades of brown and beige that can be found in biscuits, a Yorkshire Terrier and a Yorkshire pudding, all things associated with Yorkshire. I then began looking at Yorkshire Lanscapes and began colour picking different shades of green that can be found. The final strip is the three colours that are found in the Yorkshire Rose.
Current Brands The most popular currents brands on the market at the minute are PG Tips, Twinings and Tetley. Supermarket own brands are also a popular choice as they are cheaper. When conducting research I found that most people prefered whichever brand was cheapest or on offer at the time.
PG Tips
However, I decided to look at the brands individually to see the pros and cons. PG Tips has a simple logo which is easily recogniseable. They have created the character Monkey and sell him as a teddy. They have recently created a fruit range and Monkey even has his own game on their website with it. They have also created a new style tea bag, the shape of a triangle as they feel it improves its steeping by being able to move. Twinnings is most commonly known for its fruit range. The logo is very simple and doesn’t contain anything other than the name. Tetley also has a wide range of characters that are recognisable to the brand. However the packaing is a bag which can be hard to reseal after a while.
Twinings Tetley
Design Research After looking at the most popular brands, I began looking at the designs used for other tea brands as well. I found that most brands use bright, pastel colours, in particular blues and soft orange/ reds. The box design is mostly favoured with either a connected lid or a tab. However, a packet design is also used, but I feel that this would be harder to stack on shelves in supermarkets and also wouldn’t fit as many tea bags, it is used more so for tea leaves. If a character isn’t used on the packet, like the mainstream brands, then a pattern is opted for. Most packaging only uses a couple of colours. I feel that this gives the packaging a cleaner look. One tea brand even designed their tea bag to match their box design, which was shaped like a London bus. I thought that this was a very clever and unique way to stand out.
Designs: Box I started to create some simple illustrations of the packing to get an idea of how the colours worked together on the box. Also to see how the logo would fit and whetehr or not the design would be appropriate. I created a basic box with a lid, then added either a thick stripe, multiple thin stripes, a cut out or Yorkshire Terriers. Looking at the cut outs, I realised that the circle wouldn’t be able to fit the logo. Also, the rectangle cuts too much of the side out, so the packaging would be likely to rip. Looking at the box design, I don’t think it wuld be approriate for tea packaging. The lid needs to be connected, or a sleeve instead.
Designs: Sleeve
Current Packaging The current packaging is very simple with a basic box net. The lid of the box is connected, with flap to ensure that it closes. The packaging has the number of tea bags that are inside, which is 40, so it holds a large volume of tea bags in a small box. The teabags are side by side in twos, all the way to the bottom. At the bottom of the packaging it has ‘brewing instructions.’ I like the idea of doing an infographic, similar to cooking instructions, but for how to make a cup of tea. I found in my reasearch that a problem with making tea is that everyone has different preferences. This can make it hard to make a cup of tea for someone else.
Infographic Research
Tea Colours I decided that I wanted to create an infographic on how to make a cup of tea. I experimented by making different cups of tea, by timing how long the tea bag had been steeping for. I also measured different amounts of milk and added it to the teas. I took pictures of the colour and then colour picked them to create a palette.
Infographic Icons I began design the infographic by creating different icons that can be used: A kettle, a tea bag, a spoon, milk and a mug. I then tried different colours to see which works best. I decided that red is the best option to go for, especially since it is the colour that is used in the logo.
Development: Illustrations
Using the infographic icons, I created an illustration in the shape of a teapot. On Illustrator I laid out the various icons in the shape of a teapot. I then drew a teapot separately and made a clipping mask so the icons fit into the shape. This illustration could feature on the front of the packaging or on the top. I then repeated this but for a kettle and mug as well.