Starbucks – Mooncake Gifting

Design a premium Mid-Autumn Festival mooncake gifting range for Starbucks China, one of the brand’s most important seasonal gifting moments in the market.

The project needed to respond to the cultural value of gifting during Mid-Autumn Festival while supporting Starbucks China’s sustainability ambitions. The packaging had to create a memorable gifting ritual, feel valuable in the hands of the recipient, and extend its life beyond the festival.

The key objective was to design packaging that customers would want to keep and reuse. This meant developing a system where structure, material, graphic treatment, and unboxing experience worked together to create a sense of occasion.

The range also needed to feel premium, contemporary, and clearly connected to Starbucks, while standing out in a competitive seasonal gifting market.

The concept focused on extending the value of seasonal gifting beyond the moment of purchase.

Each box was designed as both a gift package and a functional object, giving the packaging a clear second life after the mooncakes had been enjoyed. This made sustainability tangible for the customer and connected the brand’s environmental message to a practical, everyday use.

The structural design, material choice, opening sequence, and graphic treatment were developed as one complete gifting experience. The exterior created a refined first impression, while the interior revealed a richer decorative world with gold foil and festive details.

The system balanced cultural relevance, premium presentation, and practical reuse, supporting both the emotional value of Mid-Autumn gifting and Starbucks China’s sustainability message.

The project introduced a series of mooncake gift boxes designed with a built-in second life.

Each format was developed as both a gift box and a functional object: the Tall box becomes a document folder and phone stand, the Grande version turns into a chest of drawers with a built-in speaker, and the Venti box converts into a laptop stand and stationery holder.

This approach transformed the packaging from a seasonal container into an object with lasting value. It also gave customers a clear reason to keep the packaging after the mooncakes had been enjoyed.

Renewable materials, tactile surfaces, and carefully considered structural details helped reinforce the brand’s green positioning while preserving the sense of quality expected from a premium seasonal gift.

The final result was a gifting system that combined cultural relevance, sustainability, functionality, and shelf appeal, creating packaging designed to be kept, used, and remembered.