The Cheapest Box That Kills Premium Brands | Shabouk UAE & GCC

This mood-based tea and gift packaging collection was developed by Shabouk (شعبوق), a UAE-based manufacturer of custom cartons and rigid boxes for beverage, wellness and gifting brands across the UAE and the wider GCC.

The brief behind the project was to design a packaging system that could help a tea and wellness brand speak about “moments” and “moods” instead of just ingredients. The brand wanted customers to choose blends not only by flavour, but by how they wanted to feel: calm, focused, energised or nostalgic. Shabouk responded with a layered collection where structure, colour and illustration all work together to translate benefits into visual stories.

At the centre of the system is a large pastel rigid tray with multiple inner compartments, each in a different soft colour. The tray is tied with a satin ribbon to signal that it is designed as a gift. Every compartment can hold a different format: tea envelopes, small tins, snacks, wellness accessories or even small skincare items. Retailers and corporate clients can curate their own combinations for Ramadan, Eid, festive gifting or hotel welcome sets, while keeping everything aligned under one calm, contemporary visual language.

The first group of cartons focuses on classic tea envelopes. Each flavour is given its own colour field and a band of detailed botanical illustration that reflects its profile: citrus and orange blossom for morning blends, herbs and blossoms for detox or calming teas, roses for romantic flavours, and so on. Names like “Fresh Day”, “Nightly Detox”, “Queen Rose”, “Zen Attitude” and “Orange Mood” are treated as headlines on the front panel, making the emotional benefit of each blend easy to understand from a distance. Fine frames and small typographic details reinforce the idea of care and craft without feeling old-fashioned.

A second group of boxes uses atmospheric landscapes to express time of day and state of mind. Each tall carton carries a different illustration: mountains at dawn, fields at sunset, forest valleys and bright midday meadows. These packs are designed for larger formats such as loose-leaf tea or value packs, but still live comfortably next to the smaller envelopes and gift trays. When placed together, the boxes create a continuous horizon line, turning the shelf into a sequence of scenes and inviting customers to explore the full range.

The most expressive part of the collection is a series of character-led cartons, each featuring an illustrated female figure inspired by mythological or symbolic names such as Hemera, Gaea, Nyx, Elpis and Eos. The faces are framed by hair and leaves that echo the ingredients and emotions behind each blend—night, dawn, earth, hope, renewal. The structure is a soft-edged, stand-up carton with a curved flap, created to feel like a cross between a book cover and a small handbag. These packs are ideal for hero SKUs, limited editions or collaborations, and are designed to be kept and repurposed by customers after the tea has been consumed.

Throughout the collection, Shabouk (شعبوق) worked to keep the system flexible enough for different product mixes while maintaining a strong, recognisable identity. The same illustration approach and soft yet saturated colour palette can be applied to secondary packaging, shipper boxes and promotional materials, allowing brands in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and other GCC cities such as Riyadh, Jeddah, Doha and Muscat to roll out campaigns consistently across retail, e-commerce and gifting. All cartons are produced using high-quality boards suitable for food contact, with options for matte or soft-touch lamination, foil accents and embossing on logos or key elements.

Designed and produced by Shabouk Printing & Packaging (شعبوق) in the United Arab Emirates, this project shows how a coherent visual language and a few smart structural ideas can transform tea and wellness products into an emotional, collectible experience that speaks to different moods and moments throughout the day.