Custom bottle design
Graphic design and branding
Label Design
Brand world creation
The Challenge
To design a bottle that tells a brand's story and captures an essence of where it comes from.
The Brief
asked us to design interesting facets and elements for the bottle, to give it a premium feel and a nod to Galway Bay. We were asked to keep the branding and labelling minimal but impactful, and we were asked to produce a weighty bottle, one that was heavy even when empty, for a more premium feel.
The new logo – which we also designed – has several design elements and type treatments that convey a sense of place and of motion, and our design intent was to bring those and additional elements to life, physically on the bottle, in order to transport consumers to the calm waters of Galway Bay through visual and tactile elements.
The finished product is a wonderfully tactile, visual experience.
The front of the bottle is clean and smooth, with minimal labelling. This allows the logo to really stand out against the amber colour of the whiskey. The rear is sculpted and sandblasted to represent waves and ripples on water. When a consumer holds the bottle in their hand, they can see right through to the rear. The textured rear glass catches the light and distorts it, making the whiskey appear to ripple, representing the waters of Galway Bay. The Galway Hooker sails also feature at the rear of the bottle, reinforcing the branding in a novel manner. All of this combines to give the bottle a feeling of sturdiness and also fluidity – reminiscent of the strength and agility of Galway Hooker vessels, and the calming waves of Galway Bay.
In terms of labelling, the only elements are the logo on the front, and a wraparound label at the base. The label at the base houses the barcode and the legal/mandatory labelling requirements, keeping them nicely out of view. Rectangular strips of this label emerge from the base and rise slightly up the front and back of the bottle. The front section shows the whiskey's age, blend, finish, ABV, and volume. The rear section details the story of this particular blend. At the client's request, we found a creative way to meet mandatory labelling requirements without compromising the design goals – and we were very pleased with this solution. A circular cutout at the front of this label exposes an embossed compass marker, pointing North-Northeast, similar to the logo itself – the direction you would sail through Galway Bay to reach the Galway Hooker Brewery.
In terms of finishing flourishes, the bottle is completed with a neck ribbon showing the age of the whiskey, and a cork topped with a wooden walnut cap. The wooden cap has a straight groove carved through it, mimicking the base of the bottle. Finally, a decorative ring at the base of the wooden cap separates the wood from the glass, and adds an additional premium feel.