Wylam Brewery - Choice 1

For my first choice in my shortlist of briefs to select, I decided to choose the Wylam microbrewery live-brief as a good place to start my shortlist research.

http://www.wylambrewery.co.uk < image reference at this link.

The brewery is based very close to Hadrian's wall, in northumberland, and was founded in 2000.
The company owners are Robin Leighton, and John Boyle, and they started the company due to a mutually shared passion for quality ale, and beer, as well as a desire to witness 'proper' beer and liquor served in their local pubs.

Brewery location as seen via apple maps.

http://wylambrewery.co.uk/our-story < image reference at this link.

The company has won an array of national awards, and in 2006, the initial brewery became outgrown, and relocated to a new plant, able to produce 3500L of product.
The company is growing rapidly, ad the expansion in 2006 is a sign of this.

The brief is asking for the creation of 2 'beer clips', as well as an illustrative bottle label to be featured on the product within officially set dimensions, submitted with 1-3mm bleeds respectively.
The product that is up to be developed for, is a brew called 'Chara', inspired heavily by the Romans.

http://wylambrewery.co.uk/news/new-brews-on-the-horizon < image reference at this link.

As stated by the brief, "The inspiration for the beer: During the Roman Empire, caraway seeds were blended with milk to form the 'Chara' of Julius Ceasar, eaten by the soldiers of Valerius as a battle booster".

The below image is of caraway seeds, which is why the brew will be called, 'Chara'.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Kümmel_2012-07-08-9523.jpg < image reference at this link.

Interestingly, there is no established 'house style' which means that I have a lot of freedom when it comes to creating the potential designs listed through the criteria. The brand is changing according to the company, so they may be on the lookout for a new look, style. This could pose an excellent chance to help them with the re-brand.

If I decide to work with this brief, I must research such areas as their market, field, products, existing examples of clips and bottle labels, illustrators, themes, their cultural consumer base, as well as other important aspects, in order to create well planned out designs.

http://wylambrewery.co.uk/shop < image reference at this link.

The above image highlights Wylam brewery's online shop, displaying a few alcoholic products that they currently sell, the brew that I have the chance to be working on, isn't yet listed as it is not currently in production as of the date of posting.

The deadline for the brief is the 14th of January, which would give me a decent time to work with, and the end result of being successful with this brief, is for my design to be publicly displayed, and would allow for an excellent level of exposure.
Artists have worked with the brewery in the past, and if I can find out who collaborated with them, I will update the blog.

While on the subject of artists involved with the creation of labels, and designs for commercial use, I want to take a look at existing designs by artists, in the field of beverage packaging, so that I have a very broad view as to what kind of designs already exist in the market.

In this section, I will be looking at a few packaging examples, and the illustrators that created them. Hopefully I can also ask a few questions in the artist's direction.

Jean Paul Gaultier:

http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/community/jean-paul-gaultier-tattoo-bottle.html < image reference at this link.

Pros:

• Allows for industry recognition and exposure.
• Supports local business.
• Light workload could allow for better final results.
• Local, so I could tour the brewery easily.

Cons:

• The set dimensions are quite small, so I must adapt my work to this.

Thomas.