Original Festive/Christmas Coffee Cup Design

Open

Prize:

€150 EUR

Entries Received:

3 days, 10 hours remaining

Christmas Takeaway Coffee Cup Design Competition About the project The Happy Cup Café is looking for a talented designer to create an original Christmas design for our takeaway coffee cups. We will provide: Last year’s winning Christmas cup design Our current everyday cup artwork Print templates for 8oz, 12oz and 16oz cups The Happy Cup Café logo and required markings Last year’s winning design is included to demonstrate the level of originality, creativity and visual impact we are looking for. It should not be copied, updated or used as the basis for this year’s concept. Our everyday cup artwork is also included as a reference for our current branding, logo placement, signature yellow colour and overall brand identity. It is not intended to restrict the designer or dictate the Christmas design. What we are looking for We want something festive, memorable and unmistakably original. We do not want a standard generic Christmas design featuring only repeated snowflakes, candy canes, baubles, trees or other elements that appear on every second café cup during Christmas. The winning design should have a strong central idea. It could include: An original Christmas character A playful festive scene A wraparound story A clever visual illusion An unexpected connection between coffee and Christmas Tasteful humour An interactive idea that changes as the cup is turned The finished cup should feel special enough that customers will notice it, photograph it and share it. Creative direction The design should feel: Festive, warm and joyful Original and imaginative Modern and professionally illustrated Suitable for adults and families Recognisable as a Happy Cup Café design Visually interesting from different angles Strong enough to work on all three cup sizes Yellow is strongly associated with The Happy Cup Café, as shown in our everyday cup artwork. Designers may use our yellow prominently, combine it with other festive colours or propose a different Christmas-led colour treatment, provided the Happy Cup identity remains recognisable. The café logo must remain clear, legible and naturally integrated into the design. Cup sizes The design is required for the following three cup sizes: 8oz 12oz 16oz The same overall creative concept should be used across all three sizes, creating one consistent Christmas cup collection. However, each layout must be properly adapted to its individual cup template. Designers should not simply stretch, shrink or crop one finished layout across all three sizes. Characters, logos, text and important design elements must be repositioned where necessary so that each cup looks intentional and balanced. The supplied templates have different dimensions and proportions: 8oz: approximately 80 mm top width, 56 mm base width and 93 mm height 12oz: approximately 90 mm top width, 60 mm base width and 111 mm height 16oz: approximately 90 mm top width, 56 mm base width and 135 mm height Designers must use the supplied production templates as the final technical reference. Please avoid Generic stock-style Christmas illustrations Simple repeating festive patterns without a central concept Designs resembling major coffee-chain Christmas cups Ready-made Christmas backgrounds with our logo placed on top Direct copies or close variations of last year’s design Overly dark or cluttered artwork Fine details that may disappear during printing Important elements placed near the cup seam, rim or base A single design mechanically resized for all three templates Technical requirements Artwork must be produced separately on the supplied templates for the 8oz, 12oz and 16oz cups. Please ensure that: The Happy Cup Café logo appears clearly on both main viewing sides. The logo remains readable after the cup is formed. Important text, faces and key illustrations stay inside the visible safe area. Artwork extends fully into the print and bleed areas. Important elements are kept away from the side overlap and cup seam. The mandatory “Plastic in Product / Plaisteach sa Táirge” marking remains included, horizontal, unobstructed and at the supplied size. Fine reversed details and very thin lines are avoided where they may not reproduce clearly. Allowance is made for possible movement during cup formation. The artwork is prepared in CMYK or the required Pantone colour format. The final design is suitable for matt-finish cups. Final files required from the winner The winning designer must provide: Print-ready artwork for the 8oz cup Print-ready artwork for the 12oz cup Print-ready artwork for the 16oz cup Separate print-ready PDF for each size Editable source files, preferably Adobe Illustrator All fonts converted to outlines All linked artwork embedded Correct CMYK and Pantone colour specifications Mock-ups showing each finished cup from several angles Judging criteria The winning design will be selected based on: Originality and strength of the concept Festive appeal without looking generic Connection to The Happy Cup Café brand Creative use of the wraparound cup area How well the concept works across all three sizes Logo visibility and placement Professional illustration and print suitability Potential to attract attention and encourage social-media sharing We are looking for a design with its own little Christmas heartbeat, something customers will recognise as The Happy Cup Café Christmas cup, rather than another festive pattern wearing a coffee-cup costume.

Featured

Highlight

Guaranteed

Skills Required

Adobe Illustrator

Branding

Corporate Identity

Covers & Packaging

Creative Design

Graphic Design

Illustration

Logo Design

Print Design

Visual Arts

Accepted File Formats

gif, jpeg, jpg, png

Clarification Board
No spam, self-promotion or advertisement is permitted.

Contest Holder

3 days ago

Please STOP sending generic AI generated images!

Carl

@HeatonBDesign

3 days ago

CH, be warned, you're going to get Many HUNDREDS of entries and most will be AI generated, 99% AI. These scammers put in no effort whatsoever, they paste your brief into an AI image generator and submit the result within 5 seconds flat. No skill, no craft, no originality. Genuine hand crafted design takes real time and human creativity, and it always shows in the work. This is why entries will look strikingly similar to each other, AI is limited entirely to the words you provided, with no imagination of its own. IF ENTRIES LOOK THE SAME ACROSS THE BOARD, YOU'RE LOOKING AT AI. ALSO PLEASE NOTE!!! AI-generated images carry zero copyright protection, leaving any third party free to replicate the design, which could lead to legal disputes over ownership or usage rights down the line.

Aliyan

@aliyana14

1 day ago

#604 Hi, There Most entries look AI-generated. I'm hesitant to post my real artwork here because it might get mixed in. Message me if you'd like to see my original work.

Mahdi Hasan

@mahdihasan101

2 days ago

#566

Wajahat

@shabbira24

2 days ago

#556

Tonmoy

@tonmoydipto11

2 days ago

#552

Negarish

@Negarishnaz

2 days ago

Hi, There Most entries look AI-generated. I'm hesitant to post my real artwork here because it might get mixed in. Message me if you'd like to see my original work.

Haiqa

@ansarihaiqaarif

2 days ago

Hi CH, kindly check #502

Md Abdul

@gafurgfx

2 days ago

Dear Contest Holder, A friendly reminder and a small request. After seeing my design, some participants may try to copy it exactly or make only minor changes before submitting it as a sealed entry. Since only you can view sealed entries, I kindly ask you to keep an eye on this. I trust that you will value originality and creativity and avoid selecting any copied or plagiarized design as the winner. If you would like any revisions or modifications to my design, please feel free to send me a direct message anytime. I'll be happy to make the changes for you. Thank you for your time and consideration.