Akupa Tea
A boutique tea brand and its packaging cut by hand, with one spray can, one knife, and no second attempt.
Summary
Overview
Akupa Tea is a college class project. The assignment: build a brand and full packaging by hand for a made-up boutique tea company. The goal was to make it look like a real, sellable product, using only basic tools and materials. There was no budget for a second try if something went wrong.
Challenge
Produce packaging that looks manufactured using a spray can, a knife, and one attempt.
Process
Name, mark, and a matte black system.
An inverted template traced onto translucent film and hand carved.
A double coat of matte black on a shiny box, one shot.
Flavor boxes measured twice for a snug fit.
The Case, Stenciled by Hand
An inverted template was printed, traced onto translucent film, and every area to paint carved out by hand before the box took a double coat.
There was no second sheet of film and no second box, so each cut was the only one. The edges carry the hand that made them, which is the honest record of a one-shot process.
The Flavor Boxes
The flavor boxes were measured twice, for a fit snug enough to hold and loose enough to slide out. Each takes a color band and the same four line panel, have fun, drink this, live simple, enjoy tea, so a shelf of them reads as a set before any one of them reads as a flavor.
A pull tab at the top opening and a deeper lip on the sides are what a second run would add. The first run already settled the harder question, which is whether the thing would read as manufactured at all.
Notes
Tools
- Illustrator, opens in a new tab
- Photoshop, opens in a new tab
- InDesign, opens in a new tab
- X-Acto knife
- Spray paint
- Tacky film