Image Credit : McCartney Design
Project Overview
Most Australians have no idea what Bubble Tea is. It's a Taiwanese concept known and enjoyed mainly by Asian teenagers. It's also known as Boba Tea and it's become a "thing" in certain hipster areas of San Francisco and London. The most common variation is an iced milky tea with taro balls in the bottom that you suck up through a wide straw.
Our mission was to introduce Bubble Tea to a wider, mainstream Australian customer base via a redesign of the logo, packaging and kiosks.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Gary McCartney, Creative Director
Dean Hazelgrove, Graphic Design Director
Tarquin Willis, Interior Design Director
Zita-Mari Seymore, Senior Interior Designer
Sinéad Kelly, Client Service Director
Project Brief
What we had to do was to take a niche category and give it mainstream appeal. We had to communicate through the nature of the product and that it's different, refreshing, and enjoyable.
The brief called for us to redesign the brand to attract a more adult (20-30yr old) Australian mainstream customer base. We had to “Make bubble tea more Aussie Local” whilst regaining and maintaining existing customers' trust.
You can't understand the appeal of bubble tea until you actually try it. So we had to make it visually appealing enough to arouse curiosity.
Project Innovation/Need
We benchmarked the way in which bubble tea is portrayed in Australia. Offers vary from a traditional Asian look and feel to modern cartoon-like imagery.
We needed to do something completely different. Our solution simply IS the product. A clever use of typography creates the shape of the signature bubble tea cup and straw. The logo on the simple transparent cups allows the visual appeal of colour, texture, coolness and appetite appeal to show through.
Some simple word treatments provide the assurance that, yes, this is actually tea, and it's freshly made, wholesome, and there's a flavour and combination for everyone.
For the kiosk we set out to defy the norm. Where you might expect a visual language of plywood and printed tea chests we went with a simple, bold design using white Corian and black tiles. As a fun touch the small round tiles are a subtle reference to the taro balls at the bottom of the cup, and the LCD screens showcase the colour and appetite appeal of new products.
Design Challenge
The main challenge for the identity really was to communicate to a new audience exactly what the product is, and to simplify a bewildering menu offer so that new customers could understand it and confidently order their first bubble tea.
We believe that the simple, bold word mark communicates this, and its size and visibility on the cups draws attention to the contents.
The challenge for the kiosk was to be able to achieve visual cut through in busy food courts. We've achieved this by using a very few materials chosen both for their simplicity and tactility. The visual sophistication is intentionally designed to push the offer a little more upmarket. We spent a lot of time understanding the product and simplifying the menu down to a three step process of creating your customised drink.
Effectiveness
The brand was launched at its first kiosk location in late 2015 and sales exceeded expectations for the mall. There is great feedback from customers and shopping centre landlords. Existing customers love it and new customers are gradually learning how to choose and enjoy bubble tea the Easy Way!
Tags
Graphic Design - Identity and Branding
This award celebrates creative and innovative design in the traditional or digital visual representation of ideas and messages. Consideration given to clarity of communication and the matching information style to audience.
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