Starbucks 25th Anniversary Cup
Turning a milestone into a collectible brand moment.
Overview
For Starbucks’ 25th anniversary in the UAE, the challenge was to create something that felt distinctly rooted in the region while still belonging to the global Starbucks brand.
Instead of treating heritage as something static, we explored how traditional Middle Eastern culture could connect with the younger generation, and how familiar cultural symbols could be reinterpreted through a contemporary Starbucks lens.
The project became an exploration of coffee, culture, heritage, and the future by using henna and regional pattern language as a bridge between tradition and modern expression.
The Brief
How do we celebrate 25 years of Starbucks in the UAE through an object people already know and love?
To create a culturally relevant anniversary concept for the UAE that celebrates Starbucks’ relationship with the region while giving the 25th anniversary a distinctive visual identity.
The key opportunity was to avoid simply reproducing traditional motifs. We wanted to find a way to respect the heritage behind them while making the expression feel fresh, unexpected, and relevant to today’s audience.
Solution:
Bridging Heritage and Modern Culture Through Henna
The central idea was to bring henna and coffee together as two forms of cultural connection. Traditional henna provided the starting point: an art form deeply associated with celebration, weddings, Eid, and personal expression. We looked beyond its traditional application and explored how its visual language could evolve.
Alongside traditional henna references, we investigated modern henna styles and Middle Eastern/Arabic pattern systems, creating a visual vocabulary that could move between old and new.
The resulting direction positioned Starbucks as a bridge between heritage and contemporary culture and not just borrowing from tradition, but creating a new expression from it.
My Role
I developed the initial creative direction and sketches, using those early explorations to establish the visual idea, composition, and overall storytelling.
I then directed the execution with the guidance of my Design Director and a freelance creative who translated the concept into the final artwork.
My role sat at the intersection of concept, visual storytelling, and art direction, defining what the idea needed to communicate, exploring how it could come to life, and guiding the work toward a final expression that felt both culturally considered and distinctly Starbucks.
Why it Mattered
The biggest impact of the idea was that it gave the anniversary campaign a cultural point of view. Instead of making a generic 25th-anniversary design, we created a concept with a reason to exist in the UAE. The work connected Starbucks’ global identity with something locally meaningful, while the modern interpretation of henna allowed the campaign to feel forward-looking rather than nostalgic.
It also demonstrated the value of a collaborative creative process: I brought the initial visual thinking and direction; my Design Director helped shape the creative; and a freelance artist brought the final execution to life.
That process allowed a sketch-level idea to become a polished, live brand expression—while keeping the original cultural and conceptual intent intact.
The Takeaway
This project is a strong example of how I approach design, starting with a cultural insight, turning it into a clear visual idea, and then building the right creative collaboration around it to make the idea work.
For me, the success wasn’t just in making something visually appealing for Starbucks. It was in finding a meaningful connection between brand, culture, and audience, then directing that idea from an initial sketch through to a live campaign.