Packaging design bridges tradition and wellness in Thompson’s tea collection

Creative agency BrandMe has introduced a new packaging design for Thompson’s collection of fruit and herbal teas. The redesign aims to unify the collection with Thompson’s core range of teas and capture the attention of health-conscious consumers across the UK and Ireland.

We speak to Georgia Howell, senior designer at BrandMe, about the role of bright color in the updated design. We also discuss how design can adapt to tea flavors and reflect wellness features.

Howell tells Packaging Insights: “Having a genuine and authentic story to tell always lends itself to the most successful design, and this project demonstrates that perfectly. Knowing exactly what you want to convey, and being totally single-minded with it, makes any project enjoyable because there is so much richness and substance there to be explored.”

“Being bold and confident in highlighting a brand’s personality will tap into consumers’ need for authenticity and meaningful connection, allowing the brand to successfully register and connect with audiences.”

Uniting tradition with wellness

The illustrations aim to achieve a balance between soft and gentle, and vibrant and colorful.The packaging shows botanical illustrations, natural textures, and clear typography, creating a modern look that represents Thompson’s identity.

“The focal part of Thompson’s identity is a tree, which represents their family, and the Fruit and Herbal range takes that tree and brings it to life. The illustrated tree is part of a rolling landscape that wraps around all four sides of the pack,” says Howell.

She notes that the design aims to give a nod to the Northern Irish hills of the Thompson’s family heritage, and offers “softness and an inviting warmth” to the packaging.

“We worked with an illustrator who brought this vision to life for us by hand-painting the tree, which was then colorized for each flavor. We wanted each flavor to have its own unique discoverable elements, so he also illustrated all the hidden details on each pack, such as the animals in the tree, which change from product to product.”

“For example, the ‘Night Time’ variant has an owl, while the ‘Very Berry’ has an energetic squirrel. He also hand-painted all the individual ingredients for us, too.”

Logo positioning

The design aims to reflect the tastes of all the different flavors and the wellness benefits of tea. The packaging uses visual elements to present the brand values and identity.

“The position of the tree itself was very intentional. It curves around the bottom and top of the pack to the right-hand side, leaving a calm and clear negative space in the centre for the Thompson’s logo,” shares Howell.

“When the packs are all stacked beside each other on the shelf, this creates a very clear brand-blocking system, but still allows for very clear range navigation with each tree being a different color.” 

“The cream background in the negative space is also taken from their core black tea range, which creates a level of consistency between the two ranges, while still enabling them to have their own look and feel.”