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00-01 | Title Page 02-03 | Table of Contents 04-05 | Project Brief 06-07 | Design Statement 08-13 | The Brand 14-15 | The Target Audience 16-17 | Initial Ideation 18-29 | Re-Branding 30-31 | Zeroing In 32-37 | In the Making 38-46 | Final Concept
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We were asked to find an existing product and brand that we found interesting and create new packaging for this product. This redesign needed to keep in mind the cost restraints of the original packaging while trying to find an innovative solution to the problems we found in our initial research and brand investigation.
PROJECT BRIEF
The easiest way to draw attention to a product without changing the product is to simply change the packaging. Due to mass-production methods, almost every package has the same shape because of the ease of manufacturing and cost effectiveness. Unfortunately, this also equates to a loss of “soul.” If every package looks the same and feels the same, how do you get a consumer to change from what they have known for an extended period of time and have become accustomed to? New packaging can rejuvenate and re-introduce a brand. If the packaging is different from every other package sitting on the shelf next to it, it will automatically gain attention. It’s human nature to investigate what is different; curiosity. That being said, my goal for this project was to create a visually stimulating and different package for one of the most mundane of packages, a six-pack of beer. Every single package is the same die cut with a different name brand printed on the front. I didn’t want to change the packaging just for the sake of change, however. First, the package needed to reflect the brand and help to unify every aspect. Second, I wanted to find a creative way to make it easier for the user to get the glass bottle out of the packaging when it is placed into an already overflowing fridge.
DESIGN STATEMENT
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Strongbow - The authentic English cider with a dry and refreshing finish. Strongbow is an alcoholic beverage best known in the UK. However, there are plenty of individuals who enjoy it here in America. Unlike Beer, Strongbow is a hard cider, meaning it is made from fermented apples. This gives it a very sweet and refreshing taste. The alcohol itself is imported from the UK and bottled by Bulmers America in Middlebury VT. As for the target market, Strongbow is enjoyed by most everyone so it would be hard to put an exact market on it. Due to the fact that it is a cider it carries a connotation as being a more feminine drink, however plenty of men drink it as well. Also, the cider does have a bit of history and a steeper price point lending itself to an older market as well. Due to this varied target market, I wanted to focus on the icon when re-branding. I wanted to create something that was more iconic than the previous logo and something that everyone could enjoy; something modern but also classic and classy.
THE BRAND
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As for the exsisting packaging of Strongbow, the brand utilizes the common paper board die cut that every other beer or cider company uses to package their product. Is there a way to change the shape of the packaging in order to garner attention and create a brand identity? Can it reflect the logo or logotype? Can it make it easier for the user to get beer in and out of the box? The graphics use the curved Strongbow logotype with the icon of an archer in the middle. Also, the brand uses a very dated beer/cider motif on part of the packaging of the bubbles commonly seen on the side of a full glass. Overall, the use of graphics doesn’t do this beverage justice and doesn’t call attention to the brand. It’s as if the brand is trying to be classic but has come up woefully short. It does some nice things with the medallion of the top of the bottle showing the age of the beverage and the manufacturer, trying to add to the classic feel. Also, there is a nice shape created with the dominant label, however, the shape is cut in half and a separate, disproportional label has been added to the back. Carrying that shape throughout is something I definitely will experiment with. Finally, the brand does a great job with choice of color with the use of a rich black, white, and gold.
THE BRAND
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Lastly, we have the logo. The logo has a lot of promise, in my opinion it is too complicated and hard to understand , but is a great starting point. First, I want to look at the hand and find a better way to resolve it. Can it flow more with the feathers of the arrow? Does the thumb need to be showing? These are questions I start to think of when I look at the mark. Also, the “bow,� it is at a completely different angle than the rest of the mark and the arrow doesn’t strike it in the peak of the bow. Is there a way that it can be integrated into the mark better? Can it be attached to the arrow itself?
THE BRAND
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Of Course you have the college aged crowd with basically any type of alcohol. So creating something that was visually interesting was my main focus with this audience. However, Strongbow carriers a price point that is much higher than most college aged students are willing to spend. So, this audience wasn’t my main concern, though I did consider it. As I mentioned before, Strongbow is popular with the female crowd due to the sweet nature of the drink. It’s also considered a summertime drink because of this and its refreshing finish. With this it carries a sense of sophistication, something one most likely wouldn’t see at a college party. This is the target market that I wanted to keep in mind when redesigning the brand and packaging of this drink. This means very clean graphics, a more “iconic” use of the logo, and a most likely a serif type face.
THE TARGET AUDIENCE
I started my ideation by simply looking at forms that would better reflect the Storngbow brand language. For the most part, I was looking for shapes that carried out the aggressive angle found in the original mark. After sketching out the initial shapes and talking with my peers, I realized there was an opportunity to angle the bottles inside of the packaging itself, furthering that aggressive nature found in the logo while at the same time making it easier for the user to take the bottle out of the case when the case is placed in the fridge. If the bottles are angled toward the user as he or she takes the drink out of the fridge that user no longer has to worry about trying to fit the bottle in between the case and the shelf above it. Another idea that I had involved creating a circular box with a handle in the middle. This packaging option would act as a quiver. Perhaps a little to play full for the overall feel I was going for. As for material use, all the ideas would use the same paperboard material used in beer/cider packaging already. This means cost would stay relatively the same depending on the size of the new die.
INITIAL IDEATION
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Starting off, I took the existing mark and began to sketch over it. I was looking for a more unified shape that was able to simply certain aspects of the original mark. For instance, the hand on the original mark was way overdone. I wanted to simplify the shape, remove the thumb, and bring the same curve from the helmet into the hand to keep a consistent shape. I also added some curvature to the feathers on the arrow in order to have the two “flow” together. In the helmet and face I removed the top slash and made it so that the nose lined up with the edged of the helmet. Lastly, I tackled the “bow.” In the existing mark, the bow is a triangular shape that really doesn’t fit in with the rest of the logo. So, to give the appearance that a bow is present I took the most vertical part of the helmet and repeated the shape to form what looks like the top half of the bow. Since it is human nature to complete objects to better understand them, the added part is read as a bow, though only half of it is present.
RE-BRANDING
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Unfortunately, this angle that my revised logo was in without a bounding “bow” created a very large and awkward negative space leaving the mark as if it was on a cliff and was ready to fall over. In order to fix this negative space I worked on finding the best arrangement for the name Strongbow to accompany the mark and make it more stable. I settled on the largest mark to the left in terms of arrangement. The angle of the mark stayed the same and Strongbow was added in a horizontal fashion to the lower right with the “S” aligning with the edge of the bottom feather.
RE-BRANDING
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Once I settled on the arrangment of the logo I went searching for a good typeface that would capture the spirit of this drink. I wanted to find a face that was a serif with the characteristics of being strong and classic. I decided to go with Arno Bold Caption for the name brand along with any headers that were on the drink label as well as the cider case. After type setting Strongbow I felt that it still needed some energy to make it more interesting. In order to accomplish this I worked with various ligatures until I found one that I though suited the overall look I was trying to accomplish. Lastly, I added the date in which Strongbow was first brewed to give it a bit of nostalgia.
RE-BRANDING
This shows the technical side of the logotype. The stress and the thickness in the ligature between the R and O remains consistent with the other glyphs in Strongbow. Also, as shown, the date, 1962, is right justified with the base of the W.
RE-BRANDING
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After resolving the logo and logo type, I moved onto designing the labels for the bottle itself, starting with the medallion on the neck of the bottle. For the most part I kept these designs similar to the original, only changing the imported to Strongbow.
RE-BRANDING
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After completing the medallion I moved onto the label of the bottle. I started by trying to find a nice shape. I pulled shaped that I saw in the logo as well as the medallion and eventually took the curve from the original logotype seen on page 22. This is also the same curve used in the medallion. The original label was broken up into two separate labels, one for the name and mark and one for the required information on alcohol packaging. I thought this created an unnecessary break. I created one large label that used black negative space to break up the different information that is needed on the label. One aspect that I struggled with was finding a good placement for the name. On a round bottle the whole word Strongbow isn’t seen unless it is viewed straight on. I tried various arrangements of the names, but all broke the negative space I created to separate the different types of information on the label.
RE-BRANDING
By Appointment to H.M. the Queen Cider Makers H.P. Bulmer Limited, Hereford, England
After the labels and graphics were completed I went back to working on the actual case for the 6-pack of Strongbow. I ventured away from my original design to create a pointed package mainly because the inspiration for that shape had been dismissed in the logo reworking. So, in order to retain consistency I used the curve from the bottle label and created a package that incorporated that nice curve into the shape. The bottle would still be held at an angle like I originally envisioned. I went with a large graphic of the logo to draw attention to the packaging. The two views to the left show the center section and the smaller outside section. The use of the logo in the same spot on two different layers creates a nice effect. When one views it straight on it looks like one piece, but when viewed at an angle it creates an interesting break. Also, since this would be printed before being constructed the logo is subsequently carried into the ribbing which makes the use of the logo even more unique.
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This shows the final die cut that I came up with to achieve the shape I wanted. The normal 6-pack die cut wouldn’t work here because the curves of the case would cause pieces to go at angles which would eventually intersect. One downfall of this new die cut is that it requires front and back printing where as a normal 6-pack die cut would not.
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This section shows pictures from various points of construction.
IN THE MAKING
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This section shows the final concept carried throughout the bottles and the case.
FINAL CONCEPT
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