Label Concept #7 (my concepts)

So far, I have looked into possible ideas of what my label could be, produced initial sketches, chosen a route, and researched the use of colour, dimensions, and typography.

I now want to move onto making some actual concepts to look at, and talk about, as well as experiment with what I have learnt over the module so far.

My concepts all revolve around the theme of botanical illustration, Roman culture, colour, typography, and relevance to the product.

Progression so far.

Concept 1:
In the first concept I have used my research into botanical illustration, the product, and also the research that I have based on colour and typography to come up with the first finished experimental concept.

Concept #1 without bleed.

The plants featured as part of the concept are related to the product.
The plants featured on this label include the caraway, the hop, and the barley, which are all used in this particular brew.

Using my research into colour I found that the tones of red, yellow, and black, (when working together), have a very Roman association in terms of appearance.
It resembles the style used in military wear, which these tones can be seen a lot on the shields for example.
My design features a lot of contrasting tones, with yellow on red, and vice versa.
This is to make the design appear bold.

The yellow border is a way to define the edge of the label, and makes it appear cleaner in my opinion.

http://www.personal.psu.edu/mow5058/squad.bmp < image reference at this link.

The colour is also brought through onto the typography, which the subject of typography is what I will discuss now.

The font is times new roman, which I had a look at in one of my earlier blogs, when I payed attention to roman styles of font.

http://www.identifont.com/samples/monotype/TimesNewRomanSeven.gif < image reference at this link.

This font was used on a lot of scripts in ancient Rome, being found on monuments, statues etc.

http://st.depositphotos.com/1015471/1938/i/950/depositphotos_19380543-Roman-scripture.jpg < image reference at this link.

This font is very easy to read, has a connection to the Roman culture, and is very bold.
It also suits the design very well in my opinion, so I am happy with the typography featured on this concept.

Update:
I showed this concept off in a group critique that I participated in on the 28/11/14, and it was pointed out by several students that the combination of both red and yellow could almost be considered Chinese, so to combat this I have toned down the red.
another thing that was pointed out, is that for a beer that is heavily influenced on the caraway seed, it is just a small part of the design, as the hop leaf is visually larger, and more dominant.

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Concept #2:

My second concept is an improvement of concept #1, and in this design I have made the caraway more of a dominant feature, instead of the hops.

I have also incorporated a sense of regional identity into this particular concept, and I have seen a connection to the flag of northumberland, and the research on Roman colours that I produced.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/61/Flag_of_Northumberland.svg/2000px-Flag_of_Northumberland.svg.png < image reference at this link.

The original flag uses the colours of red and yellow, which works perfectly with the tones I want to work with.
I had to tone the level of the flag colours down, because they were very distracting toward the caraway illustration that is featured in the centre of the design.

The yellow of the flag has turned orange, due to clashing with the red background, as the opacity of the layer that contains the flag design was brought down from 100%, to 30%.

Concept #2 without bleed.

Like my first concept, the design uses the font, 'Times new Roman', as I strongly felt that it worked very well on the previous concept.

I really do like this concept overall, as I feel it has more to it than the previous concept. It also relates more to the local area, which is where Wylam's market is primarily based.
It is also more eye catching in my opinion, and gives the caraway seed, (which is a big influence on the brew), a higher level of importance, as in the previous concept the hop illustration overpowered the imagery of the caraway plant.

Concept #1's illustration focused more on the hop, than the caraway.

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Concept #3:

The other day I was in a local bar, as I went to buy a drink, I noticed some awful bottle labels which looked very cluttered, and very compacted.
This got me thinking about working in a simplistic style, as I tended to personally pay a lot more attention to the simple bottle labels.

With my third concept, I have stuck to my chosen theme of botanical illustration, and simplified the overall design, making the caraway again, a dominant feature on the label.
I have kept the font as it has been in my previous concepts, because I really do like this style, as it relates to the theme of the Romans, and also it is very clean, and legible.

The gradient from red, to burgundy offers a bit of a break in-between the colour, and compliments the illustrations featured on the front by showing that they are the bit that stands out.



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Concept #4:

In concept #4, I wanted to incorporate something alongside the theme of botanical illustration, in order to make the design relate more to the Romans.
I thought about previous ideas that I figured may work well, and I looked back at some of my research into animal imagery, looking at the colosseum in particular.

I initially thought about using a Lion, and so I created an illustration of a Lion bust, to be located in the centre of a label. I placed imagery of the caraway seed around the image to break the red background up, and I also used the official flag of Northumberland as well, which I think works very perfectly.

I kept the same Times New Roman font, however I discovered a texture tool, which gives the text a bit more of a Roman themed chiseled stone look.










Thomas.