Founded in 2018, Moonraker Tea Shop seeks to add a little magic to the lives of its customers through artisanal drinks and curated products. They boast a curated selection of over 250 teas, blends, and tissans. Located in Ocracoke, NC (an island in the Outer Banks) they carry on the tradition of bringing tea from across the Atlantic.
I have worked as an illustrator and designer with the owners since 2022 when I was first hired to develop a custom font based on their iconic calligraphic logo. I have since done several illustrations, built their brand guidelines, and assisted with product labels and packaging design.
Typeface is the body language of the written text...
The moonraker sail is the top sail for a merchant ship that shipped goods across the Atlantic to the Americas. This sail was so high it was said to scrape or “rake” across the moon. These helped speed vessels along and aided in evading pirate raiders. These ships would transport 370 tons of tea in 1772, making up one of the world’s largest trade commodities. This history of tea is a core part of the story of Moonraker and is reflected in their typography.
The custom ‘Moonraker Tea Shop’ typeface was created to complement the preexisting logo illustrated by John Manders. The square-cut calligraphic style brings heavy,
geometric lines and sharp detailing reminiscent of the 16th century. It has a swarthy weight to it. This ornamental and bold typeface needed a compatible body typeface that was web-supported. We settled on Sedan, a garalde typeface. Its serif and graceful lines give a timeless impression while remaining highly legible.
Above are three pages from the Moonraker Brand Guidelines, which I began developing for them in the Winter of 2024, showing the correct use and pairing of these
two typefaces.
Every Summer Ocracoke, Moonraker’s home, hosts the Fig Festival. The Festival boasts “talks by local fig experts, and vendor booths offering fig preserves, fig cakes, fig trees, and other fig-tastic items”.
For 2024 Moonraker wanted an illustration for posters and merchandise for the event.
*Ocracoke Observer. (2024, July 8). Ocracoke Fig Festival. Visit Ocracoke NC. https://www.visitocracokenc.com/calendar-event/ocracoke-fig-festival/
Caffeine Stickers
Some of the most frequent customer questions are “Where is the caffeine-free tea?” and “What teas do you have that are really high in caffeine?”. To create clarity and save the shop owners some time, we created caffeine labels for their tea jars. These four stickers have a mirror finish and full-color print. For added affect, each represents a different time of day, in addition to the caffiene level marked on them.
