Thesis Statement
Craft brewers create their beer for themselves, but also for loyal patrons and friends. I want to develop a way for brewers to make effective packaging that embodies the “for the people, by the people” mentality of craft brewing, while staying true to their brand. I will develop a consumer survey of different design elements, and use the data to design packaging inspired by the consumers.
Bottle 1 & Package Side View
Bottle 2 & Package Side View
Bottle 3 & Package Side View
Side View Of All Bottles
Presentation Video
Background Information
Thesis projects sould be about the process of investigating an area of interest. With my project I explored two of my interests, craft beer and package desing. I interviewed my friend and future craft brewer about craft beer and everything I should know about it’s labels/packaging. I gained a lot of useful information from him but he mentioned one thing that really stuck with me.
Thesis projects sould be about the process of investigating an area of interest. With my project I explored two of my interests, craft beer and package desing. I interviewed my friend and future craft brewer about craft beer and everything I should know about it’s labels/packaging. I gained a lot of useful information from him but he mentioned one thing that really stuck with me.
He said “craft beer should be for the people by the people” and this is where the framework of my thesis started.
Intent & Audience
I set out to craft an effective way to create packaing that involves feedback from consumers. My target audeience is graphic designers and craft brewers because they are the ones who can implement this feedback.
I set out to craft an effective way to create packaing that involves feedback from consumers. My target audeience is graphic designers and craft brewers because they are the ones who can implement this feedback.
Research
After being assigned our project and selecting a thesis topic, we did various mapping exercises to get into the right mindset.
After being assigned our project and selecting a thesis topic, we did various mapping exercises to get into the right mindset.
The next step was naming my brewery, as task that took far more time than I had expected. Since I reside in Kalamazoo I
based my brewery here. I wanted to make my packaging colorful and incorporate my name in a way, so the name HUE came
to life. ( play on color and an alternate spelling of my last name). To kick off the rest of the research process, I started looking
at existing beer packaging to get a sense of designing for craft beer. Then I researched Kalamazoo and what I could use as inspiration later down the road. When I gathered enough information for those parts of my topics I had to conduct survey and crowd sourcing research.
Grand/ Hard words to describe our topic
Many of the names that were considered for my brewery.
Survey
After researching online and in the library, it was time to gather more data that I could use to design. I divided the survey into 5 sections ( color palette, bottle color, label shape, typeface, and theme/ imagery. I curated these colors by picking swatches that I thought were appropriate for a craft beer, the HUE Brand, and Kalamazoo. For the bottle color I wanted to have some of the typical beer bottle colors to keep the project realistic. Beer labels are typically in rectangular form, so I used one in my survey. I also wanted to experiment with other shapes such as circles, a rhombus, a shape I like to call a pinched rectangle, and an arched rectangle. I started off with about 20 typeface in serifs, sans, script, and handwriting but I only wanted to pick 5.
For the imagery on the label I wanted to use an art deco pattern for Kalamazoo, the apple blossom is Michigan’s state flower, the peacock feather to represents Hue in the color sense, I included the shores of Lake Michigan for the West Michigan feel, and to also represent hue I used a colorful chameleon.
Pantone Color Swatches For The Survey
Final Infographic To Show The Survey Data
Starting The Design Process
My typical design process always starts with sketching and color studies. In this case I already had one color palette in place for my first bottle but I was curious about how I would represent hue/ HUE. I made many pencil sketches after my color studies.
Paint Studies
Sketches
Final Product
Bottle 1: Survey Results
This bottle and box work for HUE’s Downtown Lager because the colors and shape pay homage
to Kalamazoo by using the map of the streets of downtown as imagery.
Bottle 2: Survey Results & Personal Aestetic
This route uses a more limited version of the chosen color palette from the survey. I wanted to keep
the colors, type, and imagery similar in order to create the same Kalamazoo feel. Going off of the
map shape, I created a more unique label direction in this version.
Bottle 3: My Aestetic
I wanted to go in a very different direction than the other two bottles and push the envelope while
remaining true to HUE. The focus of this packaging was color and contrasting it against black and
white. A sleek and colorful design for a classically colorful city.
All Three Bottles
All Three Packaging Options
All Bottles With Their Packaging
Discussion/ Conclusion
I’ve designed a system that works for Kalamazoo, HUE, and craft beer. I truly used the “for the people, by the people” mentality in this process, and I believe that I have successfully designed packaging that works for real world application. If I could do this process again I woud reengineer the packaging, make the designs stronger, and find a better way to conduct a customer feed back survey. Through this process I’ve learned a lot about myself and a designer and I never knew how much research should go into a project this scale but every moment was worth it
I’ve designed a system that works for Kalamazoo, HUE, and craft beer. I truly used the “for the people, by the people” mentality in this process, and I believe that I have successfully designed packaging that works for real world application. If I could do this process again I woud reengineer the packaging, make the designs stronger, and find a better way to conduct a customer feed back survey. Through this process I’ve learned a lot about myself and a designer and I never knew how much research should go into a project this scale but every moment was worth it
Sources
Interviews
Kirkindall, Jake. "Crafted." Personal interview. Feb. 2016.
McHugh, Kim. "Crafted." Telephone interview. Feb. 2016.
Sizer, Paul. "Crafted." Personal interview. Mar. 20116.
Palmer, Mackenzie. "Crafted." Personal interview. Mar. 2016.
Images & Visual Sources
"From Our Summer to Yours." Bell's Brewery, Inc. N.p., n.d. Web. Mar. 2016.
Gahagan, Bridget Gahagan Bridget. "Beer." Pinterest. N.p., n.d. Web. Mar. 2016.
Visser, Janneke Visser Janneke. "Beer Packaging." Pinterest. N.p., n.d. Web. Mar. 2016.
"Rogue Ales & Spirits." Rogue Ales Spirits Home Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. Apr. 2016.
Sauthier, Leonardo Sauthier Leonardo. "D • Beverage / Bottles & Cans."Pinterest. N.p., n.d. Web. Apr. 2016.
Material Research
Homebrew Supply
Midwest Supplies
Bell’s General Store
Research
Aiken, Kristen. "The Best Cheap Beer Brands: A Taste Test Of Regular Domestic Beers." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. Feb. 2016.
Guinard, Jean-Xavier, Bunsaku Uotani, and Pascal Schlich. "Internal and External Mapping of references for Commercial Lager Beers: Comparison of Hedonic Ratings by Consumers Blind versus with Knowledge of Brand and Price." Food Quality and Preference 12.4 (2001): 243-55
"Kalamazoo - Downtown Kalamazoo." Kalamazoo - Downtown Kalamazoo. N.p., n.d. Web. Apr. 2016. Kim, Donghee, and Soocheong (Shawn) Jang. "Price Placebo Effect in Hedonic Consumption." International Journal of Hospitality Management 35 (2013): 306-15.
Priilaid, David, Ryan Aitken, and Clint Chisholm. "How Price Demeans Sighted Assessments across User Profiles." International Journal of Wine Business Research 25.2 (2013): 108-24.
Russell, Adam. "Study Gives Mixed Signals for Beer, Wine Sales Future." McClatchy - Tribune Business News Sep 27 2012. ProQuest. Web. 25 Apr. 2016 .
Sester, Carole, Catherine Dacremont, Ophelia Deroy, and Dominique Valentin. "Investigating Consumers’ Representations of Beers through a Free Association Task: A Comparison between Packaging and Blind Conditions." Food Quality and Preference 28.2 (2013): 475-83.
Wright, Scott A., José Mauro Da Costa Hernandez, Aparna Sundar, John Dinsmore, and Frank R. Kardes. "If It Tastes Bad It Must Be Good: Consumer Naïve Theories and the Marketing Placebo Effect."
