Telsón Tequila
A bold tequila brand with aspirational swagger.
THE OPPORTUNITY
Tequila is one of the fastest growing spirit categories in the market. With countless options and a huge price spectrum, selecting a quality, well priced tequila can feel like a daunting task. New brands are popping up every day. With rapidly growing visual noise on shelf, we needed to develop an immediately-identifiable, instantly recognizable brand that not only stands out on shelf, but inspires an elevated consumer experience.
THE SOLUTION
We developed a boldly simple, instantly identifiable brand through floods of color and minimal design elements. These design choices paired with a type system that balances masculinity and approachability, a subtle sense of craft conveyed through hand lettering and illustration, and premium print techniques paired with exotic travel coordinates enabled us to position Telsón as a luxurious, sippable tequila that can flourish without celebrity endorsements.
Client: Romero Brands
Services: Art Direction, Visual Identity Design, Logo Design, Packaging Design, Collateral Design
Services: Art Direction, Visual Identity Design, Logo Design, Packaging Design, Collateral Design
Support: Carly Salzman
Photos: Joe Friend
STRATEGY
As we immersed ourselves in research on Mexico and tequila, a few themes bubbled to the surface. The dichotomy of ornate architecture with decorative design elements found in Mexican cities in contrast to the more casual, hand-painted signage in more rural areas was a compelling combination. Harnessing this tension between ‘premium' and ‘authentic Mexico’ supported Telsón’s desire to appeal to both well informed spirit drinkers as well as those who simply want to catch a buzz with some friends.
LOGO DESIGN
Our research led to creating Telson's custom logotype based on a refined style of hand painted street signage, and that was paired with an elegant script. The mark is inspired by the decorative doorways and ornamentation found in Mexican architecture, and consists of two letter “T's” mirroring each other — for Telsón Tequila — and the resulting mark is a + sign, representing this spirit's ability to elevate any occasion.
Early on, we explored a variety of scorpion illustrations (a telsón is the last appendage in an arthropod). Ultimately, our more minimal, less pictorial direction helped better position the brand as aspirational and premium.
VISUAL LANGUAGE
Balancing the tension point between “premium” and “authentic Mexico” was achieved through contrasting the boldly simple design aesthetic with a series of elements that were rooted in both craft and place. Illustration styles, hand drawn elements and design elements such as GPS coordinates all nod to the careful craftsmanship of Telsón.
The brand’s heavy use of yellow is inspired by the Mexican sunshine, and is symbolic of happiness, wealth and prosperity. The typographic system for the brand balances a bold elegance with undertones of craftsmanship and travel.
PACKAGING DESIGN
The labels and shipper boxes were a great opportunity to communicate Telsón’s connection to the heritage craft of harvesting agaves for their tequila. We focused on establishing a connection to the distillery’s physical location in Jalisco, Mexico through use of the GPS coordinates on the neck of the bottle.
Furthering our travel-inspiration, we referenced passports and their design elements for the hairlines and stamp-inspired elements on the secondary label,
Lastly, an illustration of rolling agave fields was added to the shipper boxes and other brand collateral as an opportunity to further connect the consumer to the specific location where Telsón is created.
PHOTOGRAPHY
With the support and creative prowess of Joe Friend, we set up an environment that was minimal and rustic at the same time. Small pieces of wood, plant-life, sand, drinks and glasses, and light that's been cast as if through agave plants all help the brand photography feel premium, experiential and ripe for enjoying with your friends.
ART DIRECTION AND VISUAL LANGUAGE
As a grassroots brand with an aspirational brand positioning, we strove to balance the feelings of “premium” and “authentic Mexico” whenever possible. While Telsón may be a more sophisticated brand...at the end of the day, it's still tequila: one shot too many is one shot in the right direction.
The collateral continues to embrace the tension of high end and casual fun. Swaggy and party. Mexico and modern. Telson produces seriously quality tequila without taking themselves too seriously, and this idea was the strategic impetus for our collateral design aesthetic.
