Saga V Mocktail Packaging

Our team designed premium, tarot-inspired packaging for a 1.75L mocktail bottle for the brand Saga V. We scrapped the sleeve idea early on after realizing it wouldn’t hold up, and switched to a rigid magnet-closure box that felt both functional and elevated. My focus was translating sacred geometry into the artwork and building a dieline that actually worked in 3D. Even after having to rebuild everything from scratch at the last minute, the final design still carried the tarot theme through every detail — from texture to structure.

Dark blue box with gold leaf lettering and geometric patterns. contents include 1.75 L; 8% Juice

Tarot-Inspired Storytelling to Packaging Design

This project was all about creating packaging that felt as meaningful as it looked. For Saga V, a tarot-inspired mocktail brand, the goal was to design something premium and intentional that still worked for a full-size 1.75L bottle. While my team focused on packaging, other groups worked simultaneously on branding, content, and web development to bring the product line to life. From early concepts to finished dielines, it became a process of figuring out how to turn a symbolic idea into a tangible, functional design that tied seamlessly into the larger brand vision.

5 assorted color texture bottles, each named after a character. Each bottle has an illustration that reflects it's character name.

Finding Inspiration Through Sacred Geometry

When I began researching, I already knew I wanted the box-opening experience to feel like unwrapping a deck of tarot cards. The exterior needed to mirror the intricate, geometric artwork often found on their backs. Through research, I discovered this style is called sacred geometry, known for its symmetry and symbolism. That discovery became the foundation of my design approach, helping me create visuals that felt intentional and true to the tarot-inspired identity.

Designing the Initial Concept

I created an initial concept built around three geometric shapes stacked vertically with the logo placed above them. This was before the branding team had finalized the brand colors, so it was designed on an all-black background with white lettering and design features. I also created a background pattern featuring a continuous Flower of Life design at around 30% opacity. This early version focused on composition and balance, setting the foundation for the final design once color and branding were introduced.

Black box with gray and white lettering and geometric designs.

Developing the Design as the Brand Took Shape

When the brand colors were finally introduced, I had to rethink how my design worked within that new palette while keeping the same structure and flow. My original version used black with a semi-opaque white background and white design and lettering, which created a nice contrast, but a new color palette was now required. I applied the palette by changing the box color to navy and using gold leaf for the design and lettering elements. The switch to gold leaf made a reduced-opacity background no longer an option, so I decided instead to emboss the Flower of Life pattern into the texture of the box rather than using a contrasting color.

black gift box with sliding drawer style enclosure. has a small ribbon to pull box out of it's sleeve.

Choosing a Box That Matched the Function and the Feel

When deciding on the box structure, the main focus was making it feel authentic to the experience of opening a tarot card deck while still being realistic for a 1.75L glass bottle. Early discussions included using a sleeve-style box, but there was a general concern throughout the team that it wouldn’t provide enough support or protection for the product’s weight. The team collectively chose a rigid magnet-closure box instead because it offered a more secure structure, matched the premium feel of the brand, and still gave that ritual-like experience of a tarot card reveal

Incorporating Interior Flaps

After deciding on the magnet-closure box, there was now an extra interior flap that needed to be addressed in the final design. I lined this space with gold leaf and used it as an opportunity to feature the symbol version of the Saga V logo, since the full logo was already displayed on the front of the box. The symbol was embossed into the gold leaf, adding both texture and visual interest to what would have otherwise been unused space.

Dark blue box with bottle inside. box opens with a door flap. Inside door flap has black dark blue design over gold leaf door

Translating the Concept Into a Functional Dieline

Once the final design was established, I began creating the dieline to bring the concept into a functional form. To make sure the layout worked correctly, I printed it out at a smaller scale and folded it up by hand. This helped me visualize how each panel, flap, and tab came together and allowed me to accurately place the final artwork on the appropriate panels for print. The result was a production-ready dieline that maintained both the structure and visual balance of the design.

Bringing Tarot-Inspired Storytelling to Life

This project brought together storytelling, design, and problem-solving in a way that felt both creative and technical. Balancing structure with symbolism pushed me to think about how visuals translate into physical form and how design decisions affect

5 assorted color texture bottles, each named after a character. Each bottle has an illustration that reflects it's character name. Beside then is a dark blue box with gold leaf lettering and geometric patterns.