Three designers take on a brief from net magazine asking for a site design that will get more people drinking tea.
Jordan Simpson, Caroline Murphy and Alex Pate
Tea. It's hard to imagine life without a cup of the walm-and-calming, particularly if you hail from an island in the North Atlantic, just off the north-west coast of continental Europe. There, it's cold and it rains a lot.
Add in new fangled herbal teas – with their reviving, calming, energising and uplifting benefits – and it's little wonder we're all sipping, supping, and expecting to feel better as a result.
To celebrate tea's inherent superiority over coffee, net magazine asked three designers to create an online haven for tea drinkers. The project is one of net magazine's monthly design challenges.
The brief: We'd like you to make a site for a tea reseller. It might be a tea blender with its roots in antiquity or a company built to courier high-caffeine blends to hipsters via an app. Your company could serve a Chelsea clientele or a produce tea just right for burly builders: it's your choice.
Betty's Blends
Betty's Blends eschews corporate posturing and gloss
Caroline Murphy, a freelance frontend developer, told us this about her design: "My latest inspirations have been that of pin-ups, pastels and vintage cars. So I decided to target my tea blending company more towards women and small businesses such as tea rooms and cafés.
"I wanted to step away from a corporate feel, and the green or brown colour palette. The idea for the company name and branding was a mash-up of Betty Boop and Betty Page – somewhere my mam would like to buy from.
"I wanted it to be approachable to both the general public, as well as businesses looking to make wholesale orders."
Brewer Tea Company
The Brew Tea Company site tries to convey heritage.
Jordan Simpson is frontend design and developer. He said this about the Brew Tea Company site: "The main focus of the site is to help those who are thinking of buying themselves some of the fantastic flavours of tea that they might never have dreamed of trying before, as well as providing them with the good old favourites."
"Visitors can also sign up to the company's email newsletter, provided through MailChimp, that will keep them updated with latest flavours and what is currently trending on the site. The site has been developed to be accessible on tablet and smartphone devices by using the Gridism responsive grid and utilising jQuery Mobile for an off-canvas menu."
The Tea Chest
The Tea Chest is a boutique brand.
Alex Pate is a student at St Albans. He told us this about The Tea Chest: "Although the design is centred around the products, it was important to have a section containing an overview of the company. This also provides an area in which to display any current promotions.
"The two sections are linked with a 'Discover our range' tab, which prompts the user to scroll down.
"The typeface (Adobe Caslon Pro) sets the tone of the site. However the font doesn't render as well at smaller sizes, and as such it is complemented with Proxima Nova which is used for paragraph text. I've also opted for a responsive design, to enable users to make purchases and explore the site wherever they are."
See yourself in net mag
If you'd like to appear in net magazine's Design Challenge, and take on one of the team's creative briefs, send a Tweet with your a link to your portfolio site to @netmag.
