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Design a series of labels for a hypothetical winery of my choosing, paying close attention to brand cohesion, visibility (say, on a store shelf or among other bottles), and accessibility. Ultimately, what brings people to purchase certain products relies on brand recognition—so for a new product, it needs to stand out among the others to draw attention that it otherwise would not yet possess.
Process
The very first thing I did was head out to a liquor store and literally study all the bottles there. I'm not much for alcohol, but I tried to put myself in a relatably human mindset, which basically meant asking myself, "does this bring me joy?" I took pictures of all the bottle and label designs that stood out to me and after some consideration I came to realize that the nuance of established, recognizable brands boiled down to the paper the label was printed on, the serif/script font used, and the decorative embellishments. The labels that stood out to me most were those that seemed to be printed directly onto the glass. The border between brand and product were obscured—the label was a part of the bottle itself. This informed my design decisions immensely, as I wanted my label/bottle to fit a futuro-chic inspired style. The renders I made for each of the wines were full of subtle abstractions of the feeling and taste of the wine itself.
Creating the renders for the labels was what excited me most about this project. I felt I had a pretty good understanding of Blender as a program, so I challenged myself to start learning Cinema 4D. I watched a few tutorials of course, but the bulk of my time was more so spent experimenting and messing around with their modifiers and such until I felt as if I wasn't stumbling my way through composing the scene anymore. Letting the imaginary feeling and taste of each of the wines inform what I made on-screen welcomed nuances that improved the overall design.
Aside from being an essential step in learning more about the 3D pipeline, this project highlights the importance of prep work and depth in design. The complexity of the label renders carry the piece, as they offer more than just a pretty picture as void filler. The renders are as much a part of the bottle as the label is—everything is complimentary of the product itself. Its essence is captured in the graphic as abstractions of form and concept. The interaction of light and material is as important as the typefaces used.
