Wine Label Design

[IDOL]

Heres the latest project I've been working on - a wine label design for Four Chimney's Organic Winery. Everything was done by me - both the illustration and logo were hand drawn and then touched up in illustrator and photoshop. If anyone wants close ups of the actual label just let me know. Comments/critiques welcome.

WINE LABEL:

[The Mask of Norro]

Very impressive, it has a sort-of classic feel to it for a wine bottle, which is superb... illustration work is fantastic and simple, which is perfect for a wine bottle, once again. Is this an actual client of yours, or did you just do it as a sort-of conceptual piece? Because if they're actually your client, then I'm sure they'll love it, and if it's just a concept then hey, it's a good one. Definitely pitch-worthy.

[IDOL]

Thanks for the kind words It's actually just a project for my packaging and branding class, but I'm focusing really hard this semester on putting out stuff that will lure in potential clients once I graduate. I've updated the first post with a link to a larger image of the label if anyone's interested. I'm just noticing now that I should tidy up the lower right hand side of the Four Chimneys logo as it seems to be protruding too much from the square shape.

[The Mask of Norro]

I think it adds a nice touch having it off-cue like that, gives it more of a handdrawn effect which is actually quite popular in some brands of wine. I think having it look rough like that actually adds to the quality moreso than it takes away from it, so my suggestion is to actually keep it that way, myself... don't know why, but it adds a certain charm to it.

I think it's the simplicity of the design that's appealing most to me right now. It's quite professional and although the art style is rather cartoonish for a wine bottle, I have to say that when placed on the bottle itself it actually complements it all very nicely. Only thing I'm not certain on now up close is the font for everything but the title itself.

Not sure why, but that type-of font just doesn't seem to lend itself to the design. Maybe play around a little with it, at the moment I can't really make any good, tangible suggestions that could make it look nicer... just that there's something about it that seems to draw away from the design in that area. Just something to consider, anyway.

[IDOL]

Yeah, you hit it pretty much spot on in terms of the typography. I really struggled with that as I don't want to go in the way of a more whimsical or loopy typestyle because that's a bit cliched of an approach for an organic winery. I agree though, I'll play around a little and see if I can come up with something better than Myriad.

[K]

That's quality man, I can't draw for shit. So I love it. However, I don't know anything about the brand you're designing for, is that the sort of style they ascribe to?

As for design advice, I'd perhaps try removing the interpuncts/bullets. My eyes are going to them rather than the wording.

[The Mask of Norro]

That's quality man, I can't draw for shit. So I love it. However, I don't know anything about the brand you're designing for, is that the sort of style they ascribe to?

As for design advice, I'd perhaps try removing the interpuncts/bullets. My eyes are going to them rather than the wording.

I don't know about removing them, but I definitely agree that they are far too prominent. Maybe either a resize or a different type of bullet, perhaps?

[IDOL]

The winery does go for the hand drawn look, but whoever has been doing their stuff isn't really doing it justice in my opinion. I mean they don't even have any real logo or icon to speak of. Here are some examples of the labels they have out right now:

Now that you mention it, the bullets do seem to be drawing my eyes there first thing. I'll try sizing them down a bit and see if that helps. Thanks for all of the tips guys

[K]

Thats cool, that's totally their style then. Nice.

[LUKIE]

As a designer, and a guy who has worked in the liquor industry for 7 years, I am VERY critical about design and labels, especially with wine, as 90% of them are fucking atrocious. Remember, if ever doing a job, that simplicity is best.

In saying that, your label is great. It stands out, but I think a bit too much. Labels like that can make a wine look cheap (the cartoony look). If you lost the box border, I think it may have worked a bit better. I dunno.

In saying that as well, it's about a million times an improvement over those other horrendous designs that were posted. I hope you become their permanent designer, and they re-do ALL of their labels, as they are just shockingly bad.

[IDOL]

After some modifications:

And the back label:

Thanks for everyone's critiques, the presentation in class went very well and my bottle got the most votes.

[K]

I really, really like the front. Really. I say that now, because I want you to know that I like it a lot.... however,

I really don't like the font on the back.

Edit: The leading is all over the place too

[Sousa]

Yeah, I'd align that text along the left--when you're writing body text rather than a subhead, it's much easier to read when it's aligned like that. The font doesn't really "pop," either, probably because of the lined background.

Nice picture, though, definitely in the spirit of the brand.

[K]

It should probably be justified actually, and serifed. Also there's a double space before government.