How we delivered
Menno Tea came to us in the late summer of 2011. We had known Hans and Niles, the owners of Menno Tea, through Goshen College, our Alma Mater. During their time at Goshen (at which they’re still students) they had the novel idea of starting a tea brewing company. They developed a unique recipe that focused itself around a hint of mint and lemon, producing a delicious result.
Menno Tea during the course of the past year had started growing quickly. Their distribution area grew outside of just Goshen, and would soon be distributing in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In anticipation of their increased target market, Menno Tea decided that it was time to take their brand and marketing to the next level. We sat down with them to discuss redesigning their bottle. During this, it became apparent that they were also in need of a more identifiable logo than simply the words, “Menno Tea.”
After much thought and deliberation, it was decided to take the logo in the direction of a stamp, or a seal. They had a tea leaf in their logo already, so we based our exploration around that. Through collaboration and about a month of designing, we reached an end result:
Hans and Niles were extremely pleased with the result. We then moved onto the website, where it was decided that we needed to make the logo mark a much more visible part of their visual identity.
The site itself was kept fairly minimalistic as we focused heavily on developing identity and limiting the site to key information for those unfamiliar with the tea. We wanted to acquaint drinkers with the product as quickly as possible, and dedicated much of the home page to building a culture and identity with the tea.
As the last pieces of the puzzle were coming together around the new brand and bottle, the distribution date for the new bottles was looming. It was decided that a Point-of-Sale sign should be developed in tandem with the new bottle that used the new logo mark as its center piece. As with all products that are launching into new areas, brand identification is the primary focus. As you can see, this was played a major part in the design of their Point-of-Sale poster:
We loved working with Menno Tea. It was a fantastic learning experience, and we very much look forward to collaborating with them in the future. You can visit their site at http://mennotea.com.
A Testimonial from Hans and Niles of Menno Tea
Studio Ace of Spade has given our brand a whole, new refreshing look. Throughout the design process, the inhibiting factor was never how fast they were able to work, but rather how fast we were able to email them back with our feedback. Almost everyday for two weeks, we would receive multiple emails with various concepts that fit our exact wants and needs. The designs were unique, modern, and simple. Their images and designs conveyed the exact messages that we wanted our customers to understand … I fully support the work of Studio Ace of Spade, and will recommend them to any company that is looking to improve their brand and solidify their identity.
