Concept
AN ALCOHOL RETAILERS FOR SOCIAL CLIMBERS AND HIGH ACHIEVERS. High Spirits is a distillery and fine wines and spirits retailer based in London. The brand’s tone of voice is intended to be light hearted but luxe, to create an engaging retail experience that distinguishes High Spirits from other competing retailers.
The primary audience would be affluent young professionals who enjoy spending their earnings on high quality food and drink, and prefer to shop in smaller, independent shops.
Elizabeth Tyrer
Brief #6
OUGD603
High Spirits
Research
Research involved looking into packaging for high end and artisan spirits, as well as the branding of smaller alcohol retailers. Many of the most successful products we found combined traditional label elements with a contemporary finish, and metallic colours
were a recurring feature of many labels. Quirky imagery and typography were also notable for their ability to distinguish a brand from its competitors and create something that was desirable and treasurable.
Elizabeth Tyrer
Brief #6
OUGD603
High Spirits
Research
Unusual bottles were another feature of our research, as the distinctive designs were more engaging and memorable and would therefore encourage greater customer engagement.
Elizabeth Tyrer
OUGD603
Brief #6
High Spirits
The Development
We wanted the logo to be sophisticated but also playful and quirky, and so we looked to experiment with imagery related to height and the name of the brand. We looked at hot air balloons, kites and ladders, before settling on the use of ladders. We came up with the
tagline ‘for social climbers and high achievers’ which connects the brand’s middle class audience to the imagery. The ladder symbol can then be used as a separate logo mark, or incorporated into the H. We had originally wanted to apply the logo to a cork coaster as
Elizabeth Tyrer
Brief #6
OUGD603
we felt this would be more original and than simply printing out business cards, but due to our tight budget and lack of appropriate facilities we were unable to achieve the right look for this to work successfully.
High Spirits
The Design
Elizabeth Tyrer
OUGD603
Brief #6
High Spirits
The Design
We focused on creating a packaging range for the brand’s distillery that included limited run bottles, labels and a gift box and bag. The range features unusually shaped bottles that distinguish the High Spirit’s brand from its competitors, whilst the wooden gift box and
black and gold bag are all designed to heighten the sense of luxury and make the range feel collectable, almost like a keepsake. Three label designs have been created, one for each spirit the distillery produces: rum, vodka and gin. The labels would be printed
Elizabeth Tyrer
Brief #6
OUGD603
blank and then written onto by hand: this adds a personal touch to the packaging, making the product feel more special and luxurious. The labels include the number of the bottle so the consumer knows that they possess a limited edition alcohol. High Spirits
The Design
A metallic colour palette and traditional print processes such as stamping have been used to communicate the brand’s focus on luxury and quality. Relating to the supporting copy ‘for social climbers and high achievers’, the quirky ladder imagery becomes a playful icon
of both the labels and the branding and is featured in both a traditionally etched style, as well as a simplified icon, which again plays on the brand name.
Elizabeth Tyrer
Brief #6
OUGD603
High Spirits