Just thought I’d post and see what kind of feedback you all have. These are all the projects I just completed for my packaging class last semester. One of the projects is weak but the others are ok. I know it may be tough to review without the background info.
Gee thanks. I was expecting you to rip me a new one ;D
Sprecher used 16 oz bottles. I decided to go with 12 oz clear bottles. This meant I needed to use a different diecut for the box and that I would have a bit less realestate to design on.
Someone else asked a similar question on a graphic design forum I also post to. Here is the responce to that as well
Most of us changed the bottle size and carrier. I felt this company was too caught up in its rugged brewry look of the past. Works for their beer not for their soda. They have been in the local WI market for decades. They now want to expand throughout the US.
I felt in order to get more mainstream they needed a fresher, hipper look. The soda is gourmet with gourmet prices. The slender clear bottle is more elegant. Now the soda says its gourmet soda not some heavy brewed beer.
I used a bottle carrier that fit 12 oz bottles. It was tough enough having to recreate this die. I wasn’t supposed to do BOTH the bottle carrier and the fridge pack… so some things got rushed, like reworking the dieline.
Nice idea to reuse the package somehow. My primary target for this product is adults. I felt ‘gourmet’ and price tag to be more adult. Your direction might be a bit to young for my target market… not that you knew that.
BTW when I was in school for ID we used these bottle carriers for our markers, pencils and stuff.
Its too bad that Sprecher is such a German name. There is no elegance in their words (Sprecher said correctly sounds like you are clearing your throat). That said, their original design lends itself to that old world look and feel that the brand is currently based. I like the idea of shifting the positioning stategy as you said to a boutique brand. I was living in Milwaukee about the time Sprecher opened and I am a big fan and I would like to see them succeed. I think your strategy would be a good place for them to start with their customer research. My only comment about your design (and maybe you looked into this) is that their logo does not fit with your design. I would suggest looking into redesigning their logo and maybe its used for their soda division and the beer division keeps the old logo.
As to the other packaging, it is hard to say anything other than they look nice because I have no context or criteria in which to critique. Also, you changed the primary packaging of the Sprecher, why didn’t you also look into changing the primary packaging of the Arrow ice cream stuff?
We were not allowed to change the Sprecher logo… but I do agree that would be the way to go. We all complained about the logo.
Arrow was a real project in the sense that we got to talk to the client. We actually went to the manfuacturing plant. Part of the challenge was to use the existing die cut.
I sorta felt I broke the rules already with Arrow since all 3 packages I designed are 4 color. Some of Arrows are only 2. (No one said we had to use 2 colors so…)