A Study on Chinese Consumer Preference for the Tea Packaging Design: Focusing on the Comparative Analysis of China, Korea, and Japan Tea Packaging Designs

Tea packaging reflects the cultural characteristics of different countries from all the following aspects: design concept, color, pattern elements, layout, and choice of materials. This study aims to propose means of improving Chinese tea packaging through the understanding of the formation processes of the tea culture concepts of Korea, China, and Japan. The study is based on comparative research and analysis of tea packaging in the three countries influenced by tea culture. The audience perspective was adopted to select three well-known tea brands in Korea, China, and Japan for comparative analysis. We combined qualitative and quantitative methods to compare tea culture elements, color elements, patterns, fonts, and image layouts of the visual language symbols. A total of 556 reliable questionnaires were obtained from the 600 questionnaires administered to varied age groups in China, and SPSS statistical data were used for the analysis, which revealed the following results. First, the colors and picture layouts of Korean tea packaging are more popular than those of China and Japan. Second, the pattern designs of Chinese tea packaging are more popular than those of Korea and Japan. Third, the font designs of the Japanese tea packaging are more popular than those of China and Korea. Fourth, the intention to buy tea is more predominant in Korea than in China and Japan. Korean, Chinese, and Japanese tea cultures and tea packaging designs are related to each other, and the visual language symbols of tea packaging design absorb the relevant tea culture heritage. It is also hoped that the visual language symbols of the tea packaging designs of the three countries can learn from each other through the present study and new and innovative ideas can emerge in tea packaging designs in tandem with the domestic tea culture inheritance. The comparison and discussion of the differences, problems, supplementary schemes, and improvement directions of Chinese tea packaging design enabled us to posit modern and systematic fundamental information about Chinese tea packaging.