WHISKY, GIN, VODKA OR RUM?

Category codes in every sector of design are important, and nowhere more so than in drinks design. 

Guess Who?

Whilst the designs are doing a reasonably good job to convey the category, the bottles are not helping. Familiarity is key to a consumer’s decision making when purchasing from the shelf.

This makes it essential that the label design conveys enough of the category codes. In the lineup it is not immediately obvious which product is the vodka or the gin, in the same way you would be forgiven for picking up the rum thinking it was a whisky.

Monkey Shoulder is a great example of a brand using a stock bottle; its memorable embellishment of three monkeys gives uniqueness and the label has subtle whisky codes through the type and malt masters’ signature. The choice of stock bottle with its rounded shoulders, cork stopper and heavy base also evoke whisky codes.

Which one of these brands is a wine?

On first glance, the middle bottle perhaps? The wine is in fact on the left, California Square, the other two products are olive oils. The idea of using a square bottle for a brand called California Square is absolutely rational. However, as the structure is breaking out of traditional wine territory and the graphics need to convey wine codes. Instead what we see is a very nice typographic treatment that would fit on a number of premium products.

Rules are made to be broken?

Royal Stag Barrel Select is a more premium variant of Royal Stag Whisky. It is successful in being a more premium looking product and the screening also gives it a modern, stylish finish. The issue is that the structure is too angular and tapered in an attempt to further its modernity.  The brand consequently ends up giving an overall impression of vodka.

Camitz vodka breaks the category to accentuate the unique qualities of the brand. The champagne bottle is used as a witty way to show the vodka is sparkling. It all works, as the design intention was clear and it was executed accordingly.

The essential principle is that structural design and 2D design should always work in harmony with each other, never forgetting the message the brand is attempting to convey.

Sam Neill, Senior Designer

Thanks for the pictures:

thedieline.com, atipus.com, hiphipgingin.com, rumgallery.com, coolhunting.com, holidayspiritzbazaar.wordpress.com, luxist.com, sesnicturkovic.com, whiskyintelligence.com, loveleypackage.com