“For the start of our campaign, we typically come up with a mood board that centers every piece of the creative for the full season, and so this year, we came up with the centering point around gifting and the elements that surround it, as well as elements that are really celebratory,” said Suzie Reecer, associate creative director at Starbucks.
Throughout each of the four holiday cup designs, these factors of wrapping and celebration can be seen visually throughout the entire campaign. From commercial to coffee bags to—obviously—the holiday cups, every aspect gets centered around celebration and the celebration of gifting.
For example, the first design found inspiration in a perfectly wrapped gift, featuring a circular pattern in holiday hues. The next cup features delicate ribbons encircling the cup, creating a joyful dancing movement, and it’s a design near and dear to Suzie. “It really makes me think of when I wrapped presents with my mom, and you finish all the wrapping, and you look down, and there are ribbons all over the place in the most beautiful way,” Suzie added.
The other designs are more typographically based yet still tie into the gift-giving motifs through ribbons, stripes, sparkles, and, of course, the classical holiday hues.
And while each of these cups is innovative and refreshing from the past cups, there’s a new design element that, quite literally, wraps up the entire design. “We do have a major change and shift in our design system this year, in the best way, which is bringing forward a gift tag on each of our cups,” Suzie said. Baristas will now have a dedicated spot to write customers’ names or even a note so that each drink sincerely feels like a specially gifted treat.
Graphic Design 