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
Martin O’Dea (collab with Andy Foster)
Open Garage
OUGD603
For this brief we used a Design Sprint methodology based on the Google Design Sprint and incorporating elements of other sprint and Agile Methodologies. This is my third brief approached using these techniques and I have felt that while I have had a different experience both times, they have been equally efficient design processes, forcing me to develop ideas thoroughly on paper before entering a digital workflow. During in the research stage, we used rounds of sprints to help gain a wide understanding of the context of our design in relation to audience, beer labels, packaging, distrobution, brewery websites and competitors in the market. In my research stages, I found that craft beer is a growing market in the UK, fuelled by a demand in the market for value for money, natural and local ingredients and new experiences that people can share with friends. These qualities also translated to the packaging, which contains much more variety and ‘shelf factor’ to compete with larger brands and grow audience.
Martin O’Dea (collab with Andy Foster)
Open Garage
OUGD603
Concept and development: On the second day of the design sprint, we used alternating timed rounds of independent brainstorming and shared discussion to develop names, label ideas and imagery which could be developed into the final packaging. We wanted to make the process of 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 developed 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.
Martin O’Dea (collab with Andy Foster)
Open Garage
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.
Martin O’Dea (collab with Andy Foster)
Open Garage
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. THE OPEN GARAGE o _- BREWING CO EST
2013
FODDER GANG FRUITY PALE ALE
Martin O’Dea (collab with Andy Foster)
Open Garage
OUGD603
Designing the label While Andy focussed on arranging the fold-out sticker packs, I worked on the labeling, using the friendly VAG rounded to tie the brand together. I designed the labels to present a friendly appearance, rounding corners and using white for the srink and an alternate colour shade for the description. We decided to help brand recognition by using the same packaging format for both drinks, primarily using colour to create a distinction between them. On the back label, I displayed the Open Garage logo prominantly at the top, with a description of the brewery separated out by lines. I created recycling and pregnancy warning icons, using the official labelling guidelines to create as realistic a label as possible. The instruction to find the sticker pack is inverted to make sure that it stands out from the rest of the label. We tested this label using transparent sticker paper but found that bubbles trapped behind it and it wasn’t possible to get an even finish. We had to use matt paper instead which solved this issue.
Martin O’Dea (collab with Andy Foster)
Open Garage
OUGD603
Stickers: A huge part of this project was designing the stickers that people would use to make faces on the bottle. We created a large range of stickers which we then whittled down to the essentials as there was a confined space on the pack. After completing the label, I was able to help Andy design some more stickers(above). The final set of stcikers which we decided on is shown on left. Our final decisions were heavily influenced by the results of the user testing, in which people favoured obejcts that had obvious uses and were less imaginative then expected when it came to vague ones.
Martin O’Dea (collab with Andy Foster)
Open Garage
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. I felt that the photographs came out really well and did a great job of showing the different stages of interacting with the sticker pack and creating different faces on the front. Here are some of the edits from this shoot (more availible on blog).
Martin O’Dea (collab with Andy Foster)
Open Garage
OUGD603
Studio Photoshot I was really pleased with the results of the location shoot, but it didn’t make sense to show the packaging in this way so we set up lighting and took some photos in 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.
Martin O’Dea (collab with Andy Foster)
Open Garage
OUGD603