Label Concept #8 (choosing a concept)

Over the past few weeks, I have been creating a number of label concepts that I think could have a chance of working as finals.
Using my previous research into numerous different topics surrounding such things as commercial illustration, the Romans, and Wylam brewery, I have been inspired to produce the following 4 concepts, which can be all seen below in respectable order, from the very first concept, to the last.

Concept #1 without bleed.

Concept #2 without bleed.

Concept #3 without bleed.

Concept #4 without bleed.

I like all concepts, as each one has its own particular charm, and look about it.

they all carry a theme, which is what I wanted to keep with all of my concepts.

I really do love the theme I have been working on, in terms of colour.
The red, yellow, and black tones really do convey a Roman theme in my opinion, and help to make all the labels very bold, and outstanding.

Now I must pick a concept to progress with, however I can choose a concept, and add certain elements from other concepts if I deem it necessary enough to do so.
This way I can go about coming up with the best idea possible.

I want to talk a bit about each concept, thing I like, and things that I do not like.

This will basically be a list of pros and cons, which I think may be the most simplest, and efficient way of helping me make up my mind about what works, and what doesn't work.

I will start with concept #1, which you can find below.

Concept #1:

Pros: 

• Great colour use
• Displays good use of botanical illustration.
• Not overpowering
• Simple, yet effective
• Clean
• My style
• Good font
• Bold and striking

Cons:

• The hops are more dominant than the caraway.
• The hop leaf is not perfectly aligned.

Conclusion:

Overall I feel like this design is a very strong one, and may be open to progress further on.

Some thing would need tweaking, but I feel that this could be a strong design, which has the potential of being a successful design in my opinion.




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Concept # 2:

Pros:

• Great colour use 
• My style
• Good font
• Bold and striking
• Ties into local area, with Northumberland flag.
• Love the borders.

Cons: 

• Illustration is not centred
• I don't feel as if the illustration does any justice for the design.

Conclusion:

I really do like this design, as I really think that a level that incorporates the local area and heritage would be not only more appealing to the business, but also the primary market who drink the product.

Like concept #1, the colour reflects the theme of the Romans, however I do not like the illustration featured in this particular concept, as I feel that I can do much better.

This design could work, but more needs to be added.

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Concept #3:

Pros:

• Great colour use, and two tone gradient breaks up the background a bit.
• Displays good, simple use of botanical illustration.
• Not overpowering
• Simple, yet effective
• Clean
• My style
• Good font

Cons:

• Could be considered slightly too simplistic.
• The left hand top corner looks bare, as if something is missing.
• The subheading under the Wylam name, is a little bit difficult to read, something that should be addressed if I take this concept further.
• Does not have as much local identity than the previous concept.

Conclusion:

I love how this concept is a very clean design, and is by far the most simplistic out of all of my concepts created.

However, with the exclusion of any relation to Wylam's local heritage, I feel as if this concept is a poor choice, so I have decided to exclude this concept, however I will adapt and learn from it.





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Concept #4:

Pros:

• Great colour use 
• My style
• Incorporates a second theme alongside botanical.
• Good use of font.
• Bold and striking
• Ties into local area, with Northumberland flag.
• Love the black borders.

Cons:

• The seeds are a very small part of the design
• The design is more focused on the animal.

Conclusion:

I really do love this concept, I feel that bringing in a secondary theme allows for the concept to appear more interesting, and may help offer something a bit different to using a strict botanical theme.





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Overall summary:

Over the past few weeks creating the concepts that you see on this blog, I have learnt a lot about the creation of concepts, and I have also felt what it is like for an illustrator to produce concepts for a live brief.
I experimented heavily with the use of concepts in my last module, which was entitled non-narrative illustration. Within the development I created a wealth of concepts, which I developed step by step.

After looking at all of my concepts for the first time as a collective, certain features have begun to stand out over others, and have made me look at the individual designs in new light.

I have decided, to mainly focus on concepts 2, and 4, because they, (in my opinion), are the designs that look the most appealing, and have the most striking visual appearances about them.
I like the use of pattern in concept #2, and I like how both concepts incorporate local heritage into the label.

Concept #4 incorporates a second theme into the design, which when working alongside the botanical theme, helps to make the concept a bit more interesting.

Concept #2

Concept #4

Because I discovered that the beer label is oriented in a landscape format, I have taken concept #2, and placed it in a new file that is to the correct dimension, but in landscape, to see how it may look, and to get an idea of what might work as a background for the wrap around section of the 'Chara' label.
The background on this mock-up features the Northumberland flag, and is perfect to use as it not only signifies cultural heritage, but works with the tones that make up the main area of the label, those being red, and yellow.

Landscape mockup

The label, when scaled up, is very small against the background in its new orientation, however this can easily be corrected when producing the final design, as I will just need to take into consideration the newer landscape orientation.

Now that I have chosen the concepts to provide a base for my final, I will move onto the next section of label development, which will discuss the assembly of the final concept.









Thomas.