N G E A P R O A E GE H T o _- BREWING CO EST
2013
The Brief / background : Hoping to start stocking our ale in bars and pubs across Cumbria, we will need to produce the relevant packaging and promotional products needed. Providing the beer is well received, products such as tap signs and beer mats will need to be designed.The beer will also require promotion for events such as beer festivals where a banner or sign will be necessary to promote the brand. The Open Garage Brewing Co. does not currently have a website. This may be a useful platform for people to find out more about the brewing process and how the different beers are made. The craft beers produced by The Open Garage Brewing Co. are usually bottled, so you will need to design the packaging to transport the bottled beer. Concept / Proposition We will design all of the packaging and promotional products needed to effectively transport and promote the Open Garage Brewing Co. beer. The packaging I design will need to be innovative and memorable so that the beer attracts attention which is very important due to the large amount of bottled beer on the market. I will also produce a website and leaflet / zine that will contain information about the brewery and how the beers are made. The website will be a very important platform as it will be most people first port of call if they wish to contact the brewery about stocking the beer. All of the products I produce will have to work as a set which will help to create a strong brand. I will also try and push the product range am much as possible to provide The Open Garage with all the products needed to help the business succeed. Innovative – different to other beer labels Eye-catching – if it was on a shelf it should stand out and have a presence Memorable – people remember the brand so next time they come to the event they recall the label and branding Contemporary – modern, up-to-date, it should reflect the nature of the events Deliverables Beer bottle packaging Open Garage banners / promotional products Beer mats & tap signs Open garage information leaflet Open garage website
Andy Foster [collab with Martin O’Dea]
Open Garage Brewing Co.
OUGD603
Research: Using a design sprint methodology, we researched into the expanding market of ale drinkers, analysing statistics and trends that would allow us to best identify the audience. existing sites, packaging and bottle deisgn. We also looked carefully at the web offerings of craft breweries. The packaging we looked into was playful and inventive and were often able to do unexpected things with the traditional label format.
Andy Foster [collab with Martin O’Dea]
Open Garage Brewing Co.
OUGD603
Development: This page shows some of the ideas I came up with during the first stages of the design sprint. We deided to persue the idea I came up with for making the bottles into characters. After each 5 minuite design sprint we would look at each others designs and try to resolve and conflicts by looking at the pros and cons of both before deciding on which to take forward. This part of the sprint allows us to get original ideas out on paper and forces you into coming up with as many ideas as possible. I often find that it is the ideas you think are stupid at the start end up being the ones you take forward.
Andy Foster [collab with Martin O’Dea]
Open Garage Brewing Co.
OUGD603
Concept: We wanted to make the process fo buying and drinking beer more interactive, social and fun. It was also important to celebrate the Cumbrian origins of the brewery. With this in mind, the names we decided for the drinks were Jinny Spinner and Fodder Gang, two terms that originate from cumbrian dialect. For the label, we designed a format that would allow drinkers to use a stickerbook found on the back of the bottle to create their own character on the front. This format invites playfulness amongst social groups.
Andy Foster [collab with Martin O’Dea]
Open Garage Brewing Co.
OUGD603
THE OPEN GARAGE o _- BREWING CO EST
2013
THE OPEN GARAGE o _- BREWING CO EST
2013
Stickers: Before we could conduct some user testing on the bottles I began designing the different stickers. The stickers I designed all used the same line weighting to allow them to work as a set. I tried to come with as many different facial features as I could to allow people a large choice of stickers when designing their own bottle characters. While I spent time designing the stickers, Martin worked on the bottle labels, choosing suitable typefaces for the body copy and logo which would suit the overall re-brand of the company.
Andy Foster [collab with Martin O’Dea]
Open Garage Brewing Co.
OUGD603
User Testing: To test out the format, we printed out a prototype in black and white on sticker paper and cut them out by hand. This would allow us to conduct user testing, leaving participants to construct a face using up to 6 pieces. These sessions were very helpful at identifying what was working, which pieces were more popular than others and collecting suggestions of what pieces to add. This was a very valuable process for us, allowing us to gain a lot of specific feedback which will help us finalise the design.
Andy Foster [collab with Martin O’Dea]
Open Garage Brewing Co.
OUGD603
Packaging: To make sure the packaging kept the bottles secure I experimented with different net sizes and materials. The packaging has been designed to hold two bottles as they are home brewed so less are available making each brew limited edition. The materials I tested for the packaging were 540gsm card, mount board and polypropolene. Aesthetically the polypropolene (shown above) looked the best and would look impressive with stickers applied. Unfortunatly this material wasn’t as stable as the other options. I decided to go with the mountboard because it was strong enough to hold the bottles and the colour would contrast from the bright and vivid colours we have chosen for the Open Garage branding.
Andy Foster [collab with Martin O’Dea]
Open Garage Brewing Co.
OUGD603
THE OPEN GARAGE o _ - BREWING CO EST
2013
Outcomes - Brand A core part of the project was freshening up the existing Open Garage brand, we did this by introducing a strong and simple colour pallete and combining our sticker designs in a busy pattern that makes the brand more dynamic and exciting while maintaining the straightforward typographic logo.
Andy Foster [colab with Martin O’Dea]
Open Garage Brewing Co.
OUGD603
Outcomes - Bottle We thought about how best to demonstrate the interactive sticker concept and show off the design of the bottles. We decided that photographing in an actual bar would give context to the design and give a more natural and realistic look to the project. The Social were happy to let us use their space and we took plenty of photos in the bar, with a focus on making the photos look viable and natural in this environment. The photo shoot went really well and I was happy with how the finished photographs came out. Im really glad that we decided to photograph the beers in context rather than in a studio as it makes the product more realistic due its surroundings. Here are some of the edits from this shoot (more availible on blog).
Andy Foster [colab with Martin O’Dea]
Open Garage Brewing Co.
OUGD603
Studio Photoshot Because it seemed strange to photograph the packagaing within the bar, I decided to photograph it within the studio. For this shoot, we decided to play off the red vs blue aspect of the range in our use of backdrop. This really helped to accentuate the character of the bottles and present the packaging in a commerical context. The composition of the studio photographs give focus to the clean brand and help to offset the busy sticker aesthetic, which was demonstrated well in the bar photographs.
Andy Foster [colab with Martin O’Dea]
Open Garage Brewing Co.
OUGD603