Visual Identity Design for a Tea E-Shop

This bachelor's thesis documents the design of a visual identity for a fictional sustainable premium specialty tea e-commerce brand. The work combines a theoretical foundation in visual branding with a practical design process grounded in market analysis, competitive analysis, target audience research, and qualitative evaluation. The theoretical part defines the relationships between branding, brand identity, and visual identity, and examines how core visual elements (logo design, colour palette, and typography) shape consumer perception, build emotional connection, and influence purchasing decisions. It also addresses the strategic foundations of brand identity development: mission, vision, values, positioning, brand archetypes, and target audience expectations. The practical part applies this framework to the development of a complete visual identity system. Analysis of the specialty tea e-commerce market identified premiumisation, sustainability, and ritual consumption as the primary growth drivers. Structured visual analysis of five competing brands revealed a market dominated by green colour palettes, botanical illustration, and heritage ornamentation, with no brand building its identity around the sensory experience of drinking tea itself. This gap informed the positioning and visual direction of the proposed brand. The resulting brand, initially named Chaté and subsequently, following qualitative evaluation, revised to Chaya, is built around the concept of tea as a reason to slow down. The visual system consists of a deep warm brown-black and off-white cream colour palette, a wordmark set in Cormorant Garamond, a brush stroke as the sole recurring graphic element, and a cylindrical wooden tube as the primary packaging format. The identity was evaluated through six semi-structured interviews with members of the target audience. Findings confirmed strong performance on attractiveness and credibility, with targeted revisions made in response to feedback on label clarity, cultural ambiguity in the brand name, product photography range, and body typeface pairing. The thesis demonstrates that a research-informed design process can produce a visual identity that is both strategically differentiated and positively received by the intended audience.