Cutting Chai
Branding and Packaging
Branding and Packaging
A course I took while studying inBangalore, India not only challenged my understanding of branding andpackaging, but gave me an inside scoop of the cuture in this part of the world.
The design of packaging for a typicalIndian beverage, “Cutting Chai”. A package that would inspire a youthful,modern audience and urge them to take this product home instead of buy it onthe curbside.
“Cutting Chai”. Designed for the fastpaced lifestyle of Mumbai’s city dwellers, this style of tea was an innovationwhich resulted from the need for speed, convenience, and Chai.
Inspired by motifs found in Mumbai, I created an inner layer ofthe box which nested inside a colorful outside shell. The motifs and thesecolors are part of daily life, yet the simplicity of the outside box is meantto stand out to this audience.
The most important elements of this project, personally, werethe steps in it’s execution. The design took a time and lots of redesign, butwhen I started creating the box, chaos exploded. Taking a bus and two autorickshaws into downtown Bangalore, I jumped out of the vehicle and into along line at the crowded print shop where I frantically waited, anxious thatthe laser cutting shop would close before my arrival. Finally, with prints inhand, I ran from one auto to the next, asking if anyone knew the address I hadwritten down. While I searched the loud, busy city for the laser cutting shop,the driver ,who had assured me he knew the location, made numerous phone callswhile he asked his friends and people on the street where this place was.
After driving frantically around the city for about in hour, an Indian manjumped in the auto with me. Confused and hesitant, I followed him up the stairsof what appeared to be a random building. I kept asking questions and walkingback down, unsure of what exactly was going on. But he had to explain nofurther when I turned the corner and saw the laser cutting shop. Running nextdoor to reprint, they set up the laser, and we cut a number of boxes fromdifferent colored prints.
The design of packaging for a typicalIndian beverage, “Cutting Chai”. A package that would inspire a youthful,modern audience and urge them to take this product home instead of buy it onthe curbside.
“Cutting Chai”. Designed for the fastpaced lifestyle of Mumbai’s city dwellers, this style of tea was an innovationwhich resulted from the need for speed, convenience, and Chai.
Inspired by motifs found in Mumbai, I created an inner layer ofthe box which nested inside a colorful outside shell. The motifs and thesecolors are part of daily life, yet the simplicity of the outside box is meantto stand out to this audience.
The most important elements of this project, personally, werethe steps in it’s execution. The design took a time and lots of redesign, butwhen I started creating the box, chaos exploded. Taking a bus and two autorickshaws into downtown Bangalore, I jumped out of the vehicle and into along line at the crowded print shop where I frantically waited, anxious thatthe laser cutting shop would close before my arrival. Finally, with prints inhand, I ran from one auto to the next, asking if anyone knew the address I hadwritten down. While I searched the loud, busy city for the laser cutting shop,the driver ,who had assured me he knew the location, made numerous phone callswhile he asked his friends and people on the street where this place was.
After driving frantically around the city for about in hour, an Indian manjumped in the auto with me. Confused and hesitant, I followed him up the stairsof what appeared to be a random building. I kept asking questions and walkingback down, unsure of what exactly was going on. But he had to explain nofurther when I turned the corner and saw the laser cutting shop. Running nextdoor to reprint, they set up the laser, and we cut a number of boxes fromdifferent colored prints.
