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Portal Tea
Goal
Portal Tea came to us with a mission: Elevate their small chain of landmark tea shops into a fully-fledged tea brand.
Services
Brand Strategy
Visual Identity
Packaging Design
eCommerce Website
Naming
Photography
Portal Tea was ready to move from a small tea shop company to an elevated tea brand. Our team helped them redefine their identity with a new brand name, a comprehensive strategic framework, sophisticated packaging design, and a robust e-commerce website to support nationwide sales.
Brand Strategy
Portal Tea, formerly Tea Chai Té, was ready to be more than a tea shop chain. They wanted to grow their sales nationally and needed to shift their brand focus to the virtues of their custom teas. We honed in on the elements that made their brand of tea completely unique in the market and crafted hardworking tools to guide their branding journey.
“In developing Portal’s brand strategy, we wanted to capture their culture of creativity and spirit of adventure. We wanted to emphasize their expertise in tea, but remain very welcoming, as their whole philosophy revolves around the idea that tea is for everyone. Our focus was developing foundational brand elements that would help them communicate their unique take on tea.”
Angela Larisch
Strategy Director
Naming
When Portal Tea described their tea to us, they said each unique flavor had the ability to transport you. Through our workshop discovery process, we dug deeper into this idea. We explored a number of different directions but ultimately landed on the name Portal. This simple but unique name for a tea company perfectly captured the idea of entering another world.
“Working with Portal Tea was an absolute joy. Their team was fully invested in the process and showed up at each stage donning their creative caps. We gained really good insight into what makes their tea and their brand different from others in the industry. When the idea that their tea has the ability to transport taste buds surfaced, we ran with it!”
Angela Larisch
Strategy Director
Identity Design
Portal’s new logo design pulled inspiration from the transportive nature of the name Portal. A traditional cast iron tea kettle silhouette echoes the original logo, while the liquid interior reflects a place or landscape to which that tea can transport you.
Packaging Design
Expanding on the landscape featured in the logo, the packaging design reinforces the transformative quality of tea. The label makes intentional use of the matte finish by subtly fading a mountain skyline into the bottom of the tin. Endless permutations of custom color palettes give the packaging flexibility and the metallic effects across the design add a premium feeling.
“To create a feeling of transportation, we featured tranquil scenery held within a teapot. We added unique detailing to the landscape for elegance and chose an array of bright colors to differentiate the various tea lines.”
Renee Dimalla
Senior Art Director
Website Design
Our goal for website design was something rich and flavorful that immerses users in the Portal brand and their unique tea offerings. Animations help create joyful moments, and a serene color palette and beautiful photography give it an artfully simple feel. Although the site includes a lot of information and e-commerce shopping items, implementing a functional filtering system helps keep it light, approachable and easy to navigate.
“The goal for the website was to showcase the beauty, complexity, and history of tea while keeping it approachable. From curated product collections to engaging resources, the new Portal Tea website meets its customers wherever they’re at on their journey into the world of tea.”
Dani Ramsby
Senior UI/UX Designer
Website Development
A big part of Portal Tea’s site build was balancing custom-coded elements while leveraging Shopify’s e-commerce features. We also integrated apps like Wishlist Engine, EcoCart, and Recharge to help deliver on our shared goals.
“Shopify is a great e-commerce platform but has limitations when it comes to building multi-layered site structure and showcasing content. For Portal Tea, a company that does more than simple e-commerce, we used the CMS app and Accentuate Custom Fields to build more flexible templates that better fit the client’s specific needs.”
Amy Hwang
Senior Developer
