OUGD603 / Extended Practice - Brrrew Iced tea: Tactile tea examples.

OUGD603.

EXTENDED PRACTICE.

Brrrew Iced tea. 

After looking online I found that only a few companies did a range of cold brew teas. Ones that I discovered included Liptons, Celestial tea, Twinings and Whittards. I think a large importance of branding an Ice tea brand will be to make it stand out on the shelf. Ice tea is an undiscovered drink to many in the U.K, and so when placed alongside regular tea it needs to stand out. I felt like the packaging implemented by these companies wasn't particularly eye catching. Although I do enjoy the branding for whittards, this is a chain premium tea shop with a completely different audience to the supermarket tea shopper I will be designing for. 

I also found that whilst looking for examples of tea, there are two types of cold brewing teas you can get, tea bags or loose. More reasonable brands such as Lipton's and Twinings sell their Iced tea in bags, where as Whittards sell their iced tea loose. By selling iced tea loose, this requires the consumers to purchase the relevant equipment to brew and filter the tea. When trying to catch peoples attention with a new brand, I think that it would be off putting to offer a new product that requires the consumer to spend £30 more on equipment to use it. I also think that one of the great things that people love about tea is the convenience, simply popping a teabag in a mug, letting the teabag mash, as some said they enjoyed, and then adding any extras, ready to drink. The great thing about cold brewing ice tea bags is that, they require no use of the kettle, meaning saving on electricity. Some may choose to make larger quantities and place this into the fridge, if they drink tea very regularly, or some may wish to place their cup in the freezer for a few minutes to chill, however both these electrical items are running regardless. 

Equipment sold at Whittards for Ice tea brewing:

Tactile Tea examples.

After coming up with a new idea of creating a range of tea for home brewing, I went out to the super market to look at design that already exists. I found, of the supermarkets I went to, none of the brewing teas on the shelves were meant to be made cold. However I did find looking at the current range of designs useful.

Instead of looking for designs particularly linked with Iced tea, I looked for designs that stood out on the shelf, and caught ones attention. I also kept an eye out for any Yorkshire based teas to look at how they had been branded.  

I picked up on Clippers tea purely due to how welcoming and friendly the tea appreared. The packing makies the brand appear down to earth whilst being informal. This message is due to the hand drawn style that combines both the Illustrations and typography. Because of this Clipper almost appears like the underdog to teas such as Tetley and Yorkshire tea. 

Tea pigs stood out to me as it was different to any other tea packaging on the shelf.  I did however feel that this packaging created a barrier between itself and the others, and offered itself to niche customers. This however could be subject to change the longer that the tea stays on the shelf. However I do nod to the designer whom worked on the product as it does stand out on the shelf, and this is what a new product needs to do. Something to consider is also, do I want the customer to be able to see the product inside? This could be a good idea with a new product that is not readily availinle on the current U.K market, to show people that essentially iced tea bags look just like normal tea bags which may take away any hesitating about purchasing the product. 

Tetley's is the largest Tea company in the U.K, however I don't find the packaging to be very eye catching. The reason it is so popular is not from its ability to attract customers via aesthetic, but because of customer loyalty. Tetley's tea came onto the British Market 61 years ago in 1953, at this point due to the finish of rationing from WW2 there were not many tea brands on the market. It is important that as a completely new product on the market, it is able to attract people aesthetically. 

Pukka was one of my absolute favourite packaging examples on the shelves. I felt that it really stood out due to its simplicity and consistency, which ultimately leads to its effectiveness. Pukka uses a constant illustration pattern, which is altered slightly in form and wholly in colour in order to reflect the change in flavour. This also means that the brand is very recognisable as many shoppers will search for the pattern. The branding also breathes a contemporary and minimalist theme, as although the pattern used is quite hectic, there is a very small pallet of colours used on each box, this thought of minimalism is continued via the logo and type choice which completely disregards any ornament.

The Tesco's finest teas use a similar aesthetic approach to Pukka teas, Using illustrative patterns and small pallets of colour that differentiate due to flavour change. The difference is in the audience, it is easy to see from the logo and the use of the word 'finest' that Tesco are aiming their product at those who are indeed looking for a finer tea, which would not be my audience. I want the ice tea to appear proud, Yorkshire born, friendly and somewhat relatable to traditional tea. However I do applaud the use of colour and form. Using contrasting colours and a well thought out form, allows the packaging to stand out on the shelf, such as the orange and green colour scheme above. 

Yorkshire tea has a very recognisable aesthetic that has grown with the tea over the past 140 years. Yorkshire tea uses true to life illustrations of picturesque Yorkshire itself.  The packaging appears welcoming and friendly and is a faithful go to for many tea consumers, in which when drinking the tea can imagine themselves sitting with the rolling hills of Yorkshire. Yorkshire tea also uses a colour code to distinguish between different blends, whilst the original uses bright orange as its striking colour, the gold blend uses gold foil, and hard water edition uses green. The illustration behind is also swapped out on each different blend to reveal a piece of Yorkshires stunning scenery.