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Five of Cups: The Saga V Journey

  • Writer: Lacey Todd
    Lacey Todd
  • Oct 6
  • 6 min read


The Fool: The Unknown Journey

Who We Are

Saga V is a conceptual alcohol-free mocktail brand developed with inspiration from tarot symbolism, focusing on five distinct flavor profiles. Each of our flavors, which are sweet, sour, salty, umami, and bitter, are represented by a corresponding tarot card and persona: The Sun (sweet), The Fool (sour), The Siren (salty), The Oracle (umami), and The Magician (bitter). Designed for Gen Z and Millennial audiences, the brand addresses a gap in the non-alcoholic beverage market by appealing to consumers interested in fantasy, magic, and niche subcultures such as Dungeons & Dragons.

In the beginning 

The project began with an early concept called Chalice, inspired by medieval art, illuminated manuscripts, and blackletter typography. After creative exploration and direction, the concept evolved into Saga V. Saga V was the result of a refined vision that retained Chalice’s sense of fantasy and mysticism while shifting toward a more ethereal, tarot-inspired theme.


Image is of a moodboard titled "Chalice" featuring medieval inspired illustrations and photographs.

Five of Wands: The Conflict

From Conceptualization

As the branding team we had to think rather quickly about our concepts. Within the first few days we were taken from many different concepts to a set-in-stone aesthetic after expecting to vote on many different ones. We had to create fast, because the rest of the team was relying on us for our visuals. The challenge was to create cohesive branding including logo, colors, and typography. The goal was to create branding that felt mystical, unique, and sophisticated.


In the first visual ideation, we expected some elements of Chalice to remain after renaming it to Saga V to better reflect the concept. Early designs leaned heavily on medieval themes, featuring blackletter fonts, sword-inspired elements, and a violet–magenta palette drawn from royal symbolism.



Six of Pentacles: My Contributions

The Saga V Brand - First Iteration

My primary contributions were ideas that were then bounced off of to create the finalized ideations. I am the one who initially presented the Chalice concept to the class, causing the evolution towards the tarot theme. The original logo design and color palette were also my designs. The logo we kept but added to, and the original palette was scrapped for something that better fit the concept. 



The Birth of the Logo


I chose a blackletter typeface because I thought it encapsulated the medieval theme of original ideations. I chose IR 41 Gotico for this logo because of its readability in comparison to most blackletter fonts. The V was made from the Sabon LT Pro font for its readability and I needed it to come across as the roman numeral 5 and not a V. 



Top image features the original Saga V logo created with gothic font featuring the full word "Saga V" with a sword shape going through the S
The image features the monogram version of the Saga V logo. The logo features a gothic S broken into two mirroring pieces diagonally with a V placed in the middle and the sword motif in the gap in the V.



Beginning Ideations


Before I came up with my final logo I had a few bits and pieces of font I was playing around with just trying to cultivate some ideas. I tried a different blackletter font at first but I did not like how unreadable the font was at different sizes. I also could not find a good placement for the letters that I liked. 

Image features scrapped Saga V logo in squished, uneven, blackletter font in black on a lavender background.

When I found the Gotico font it was perfect. It had really clean letters I could easily manipulate. What caught my eye was the way the S looked, with the middle section having a shape in the middle that I could remove and replace with something else. I cut the shape out and moved the other two pieces around to create my S. 


Image features early Saga V logo with a lot of spacing between the letters in black on a lavender background.

I liked where the logo was going but there was a lot of negative space that needed to be filled. I stretched out the letters and adjusted the kerning to bring the letters together some, eliminating a lot of the negative space. Stretching out the letters made the logo look fuller and more readable. 

Image features both Saga V logo and monogram in black on a lavender background.

This is also when I created the monogram. I liked the severed pieces from the S and thought that was a perfect spot for the V to fit in the monogram. I thought a monogram logomark would be the best choice for medieval inspired branding. There was still some negative space to fill so I needed something simple and scalable to fill the gap, I came up with a sword tip shape and placed it in my spaces and it worked. 


Image features Saga V logo in black on a lavnderbackground on the left of a gray background that features examples of gotico font and sabon font in black. At the bottom is the saga v color palette.

The Color Palette 


I went through a couple different color palettes before I came up with the one that I liked. At first I was using a wide range of colors that I thought felt medieval inspired.




image features three color palettes the first one with black, brown, tan, white and lavender. The second one features gray, orange, yellow, green, and lavender. The third one features green, red, and white.



The one color I couldn’t get away from was this lavender color I picked up from an illustration on a mockup that one of the other design team members made. I decided to simplify by going with an almost monochromatic palette. Violets and magentas just range in tone and temperature.




The bottom image is of a color palette featuring six violet and magenta tones ranging from a chromatic dark, to vivid magentas, and then to lavenders on a mid-gray background.



What Ended Up Changing

Originally, since the team chose my concepts and design to work on, I was tasked with providing the illustrations for each tarot card in order to keep those visuals cohesive. I was using another team mate's color palettes to create simple, scalable character designs for each card. A few days into that project I was informed that my illustrations had been taken over by packaging and already completed. I then used my time to try and offer some feedback to packaging regarding their illustrations.


Image features tarot card illustration on a yellow background of a woman with long flowing orange hair, wearing a long flowing orange dress and holding a sugarcane plant.




The First Illustrations 

I had only gotten four designs finalized before the redirection. This is because they went through a couple different revisions because I was not happy with the results and the colors were not cohesive.


Image features a tarot card illustration of a woman with long flowing orange hair wearing a long flowing red dress holding a sugarcane plant on an orange background with an illustrative sun and clouds.
Image features an illustration of a woman with long dark purple hair with hands on a crystal ball that is on a table on a muted purple background with an illustrative moon.
Image features an illustration of a mermaid with long flowing blue hair with arm resting on her tail on a blue background with an illustrative sun and clouds.

One Illustration to Rule Them All

I had completely finished one full illustration when I was informed of the redirection. I completed the illustration for the sun card. I wanted her to be bright and magical. I used our warm toned color palette we decided on and gave her a sugarcane place since the Sun was our sweet flavor. I finalized the way I wanted them all to look with this piece so after I completed it I started on making the other illustrations match. 


Image features tarot card illustration on a yellow background of a woman with long flowing orange hair, wearing a long flowing orange dress and holding a sugarcane plant.

The Others In Progress

The Siren, the Fool, and the Oracle were all in early stages when I had to stop working on them.


Image features an illustration of a woman with long dark purple hair with hands on a crystal ball that is on a table on a muted purple background with an illustrative moon.
Image features an illustration of a woman in a green jester costume holding a green apple on a green background.
Image features an illustration mermaid with arm resting on tail with long flowing blue hair on a black background.

Other Considerations

I had also begun work on creating a frame to add to all the cars that features the ribbon-like shapes from the shape of the Gotico S. I cut and put the pieces together to create new shapes that would be motifs to decorate the border of the card. I also added reflecting Saga V monograms to the part of the border where the text goes. 


Image features an illustrative tarot card border with ribbon-like stripes around the top corners and bottom corners with the Saga V monogram reflecting itself on either side of the text placeholder.

Ace of Swords: Shifting Direction

Redirected

Through direct influence of the Creative Director our goals swiftly shifted to a new ideation. The stakeholders wanted to see our brand become more inspired by the art of tarot. This involved more research into what that meant for us. Through research and more ideation we decided we needed a fresh color palette, reworked brand guidelines, and needed to tweak the logo. In this time frame, we also decided we needed each card/flavor to have its own color palette to be used for visuals relating to each respective flavor. 


This image features the updated branding style for the Saga V brand including the white updated monogram, "Brand Guidelines" written in gold and a celestial moon and sun design at the bottom on a dark blue background.
This image features a collection of six color palettes of three colors for the Saga V brand. The top palette is of dark blue, gold, and deep tan. The second palette is a monochromatic green palette going from dark to light, the third palette is a monochromatic blue ranging from dark to like, the fourth palette is a monochromatic purple ranging from dark to light, the fifth palette is a monochromatic orange ranging from dark to light and the sixth palette is a monochromatic red ranging from dark to light.


Our Response

Our research into tarot visuals inspired a refreshed color palette that shifted from royal purples to bold navy and gold, aligning with traditional tarot themes. To move away from medieval aesthetics, we added celestial elements, which were stars and radiant shapes, to the logo, creating a more fitting mystical identity. Brand guidelines were updated with simplified, cohesive color trios for each card, reducing tonal variation and improving consistency. Finally, while the gothic font remained in the logo, we replaced the body typefaces with more readable options that better supported the tarot-inspired style


This image features the original Saga V logo in a deep purple on a solid lavender background.
This image features the updated Saga V logo with the additions of the star motif at the bottom of the monogram and inside the V of the full logo with the rays of light on the top of the S.










The Sun: Culmination

Our final brand identity for Saga V resulted in a compelling and mystical aesthetic that set the concept apart from other beverage brands in the industry. By fully embracing tarot as the guiding inspiration, the brand conveyed a sense of mystery, discovery, and sophistication, creating an immersive visual experience that resonated with fantasy-loving audiences. The carefully selected blue and gold palette, paired with celestial motifs, reinforced a feeling of luxury while remaining approachable. Accessibility was prioritized throughout the design, with legible typography, strong color contrast, and clear hierarchy ensuring that the brand’s mystical visuals never came at the cost of clarity or inclusivity. Designed to feel like a luxury product on an affordable budget, Saga V offers sober audiences a beverage brand that reflects their unique interests. The project stands out in the mocktail industry by blending mysticism, design consistency, and inclusivity, demonstrating how research-driven, audience-focused branding can transform a creative concept into a compelling experience. The final outcome left the entire team proud of what we achieved in such a short time.


 
 
 

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