Labels for my barrel aged beer

I've been working on labels for my barrel aged beer. Here's what I've come up with so far.

Front


Back


This beer will be bottled in 750ml Belgian bottles, corked and caged. Each bottle will be hand signed and numbered.

Thoughts, suggestions?

Don't get me wrong....

It's nice, I love that shot, but it just seems like there's something missing. I *love* the labels you have made, they are some of the best I have seen (commercial or homebrew), but something about this one just doesn't seem.... finished. Maybe it's the font that I'm not loving? I really can't put my finger on it, there's just something that seems to be missing that makes this one not quite up to your ENORMOUSLY HIGH standards...

I wish I could express what it is.... I just don't know. Maybe it just needs the Naked City logo somehow incorporated onto the front to complete it.

Thanks for the feedback Bird. I tried fitting the Naked City label on the front but just couldn't find a place that looked good. I'm going to play with it some more and see if I can come up with a different concept.

The problem that I think Bird is seeing is the front image lacks any point of interest. It's so washed out, that things blend together. That, in and of itself, could be fine, but then you split the front of the label in half with the horizon. That actually draws the eye AWAY from the Name of the Beer.

Any chance you can cause the image to curve in the middle so instead of being a flat horizon, it looks a little more like a fisheye lens?

If not, then at least maybe make the image more of a sepia tone to better match the border and the text....

I think I've identified something underlying here.
Is it seems somewhat claustrophobic.

The desolate expansiveness of the basin and range landscape has been squared off. It wants to be rectangular.

In movie terms...
This movie had been formatted to fit your TV screen.
or
Full vs Widescreen...
Go see it in the theater!

Another suggestion is to drop the horizon to the bottom third and show more sky so that we may breath in that beautiful air.
Perhaps that's not possible with this image.

Is this a movie still?? I am kinda troubled by the "unidentifiable blob" in the middle of the highway. I don't know the identity of the movie, but I imagine that the blob starts the scene up close (and is identifiable) and moves down the road. As a still, it is kinda hard to tell if it were a truck, bus, car, rock or whatnot. If you had a still of the scene without the object, or a scene with it farther down the road, (and less prominent) I think it would work.

One other thing, maybe put a box on the back label for a batch number. That way you could have bottle number 1 of batch one, then start off batch 2 with bottle 1.

Allan

Actually, I think out of context it's a little off. If the label were already on a bottle I think it would grip me straight to it on a shelf (be it in a store or cellar). The "blob" could be a little more distinguishable but I don't think it's enough to ruin the label. Like Bird said, it's an amazing label that's just left with something odd or missing.

Can you slap the front on a 750 and take a snapshot?

Very creative, very professional. Nice!

EDIT: As far as the batch goes you could just change the lettering to "Batch / Bottle No." and code the batch into that box.

howlinowl said:

Is this a movie still?? I am kinda troubled by the "unidentifiable blob" in the middle of the highway. I don't know the identity of the movie, but I imagine that the blob starts the scene up close (and is identifiable) and moves down the road. As a still, it is kinda hard to tell if it were a truck, bus, car, rock or whatnot. If you had a still of the scene without the object, or a scene with it farther down the road, (and less prominent) I think it would work.

Click to expand...

I'm gonna wager a guess that it *might* be from "The Grapes of Wrath"...

the_bird said:

I'm gonna wager a guess that it *might* be from "The Grapes of Wrath"...

Click to expand...

Heh.... probably so, but I've never seen the flick, better to admit ignorance than to look stupid guessing.

Allan

Damn Squirrels said:

The problem that I think Bird is seeing is the front image lacks any point of interest. It's so washed out, that things blend together. That, in and of itself, could be fine, but then you split the front of the label in half with the horizon. That actually draws the eye AWAY from the Name of the Beer.

Click to expand...

The problem is that there are too many dimensions to it. You're seeing the text floating off the label, but the perspective of the road makes the label appear deeper. There is nothing to draw your eye to the middle of the perspective.

Take the drop shadow off the lettering and it will look better.

I second removal of the drop shadow. If you must, pop it a little with a soft stroke or diffuse glow, but the text doubling effect is the primary culprit for me.

-RS

I wonder how it would look if there was a subtle arch to the "Grapes of Wrath," kinda framing the car off in the distance, kinda following the lines of the sun...

Oh, and how would a small "Naked City" logo look on the right-hand bottom corner, just above the 14,5% APV? Tell you what, why don't you try that out, put it on a bottle, and send it my way for more analysis?

Completely different concept for the front label


Back will remain the same. I originally had batch no. on the label but seriously, I will never reproduce this beer again. That's why I switched to bottle no. Keep the feed back coming though, I really appreciate the input. Thanks all!

That's better, a lot better. I like that one...

I like that better as well. But "wrath" seems like such a dark concept. I think if that yellow background with black text was switched to black background with yellow text, it'll look even better. And the black compliments the picture more (theres no yellow in the photo).

Nailed it!

It looks more like a wine label, which I like (especially for this particular beer).

I wonder how it would look if the bottom half were compressed a little bit, the "Grapes of Wrath" banner brought down a bit below the middle, and the picture size increased a little... I think it might look a little less wine-bottley, not sure whether it would be better or worse. But, a huge improvement from the original picture, looks much more like a (very high end) professional label.

perfecto! :rockin:

I like it, but I think adding a tint to the black and white photo might make it pop. Perhaps the same color as the Grapes of Wrath text.

How's this, incorporated suggestions above. Black background, yellow text, larger picture (tinted) and moved Grapes of Wrath text down.

Wow even better!

Can I challenge your skills?
Make the black into barrel planks to tie into the barrel aging.

Originally posted by olllllo
Can I challenge your skills?
Make the black into barrel planks to tie into the barrel aging.

Click to expand...

Wow, that is a challenge. I like that idea, but it may be beyond my abilities. I'll play with it some more and see if I can do that. I'm using Photoshop 4.0 so if anyone can help me out with suggestions on how to accomplish this it would be much appreciated.

Find a photo of some planks. Put the layer above the black. Then use the hard light blending option. That should do it.

Cool, thanks rdwj!

How's this look?

looks cool!

Perfect. Lock and load.

That is a FANTASTIC looking label, and the back is great too!

Eric

This looks great, definitely improved over the original design imho. I am not %100 sold on the main font though, but that's just me. :cross:

I think it looks brilliant!!!

Maybe lighten the outter gold ring? Or make it more yellowish? Maybe?

I'm not trying to be negative. Truly, it's a brilliant looking label. At this point, we're just nit-picking. It looks great.

Brewtopia said:

I've been working on labels for my barrel aged beer. Here's what I've come up with so far.

Front
View attachment 2229

Back
View attachment 2230

This beer will be bottled in 750ml Belgian bottles, corked and caged. Each bottle will be hand signed and numbered.

Thoughts, suggestions?

Click to expand...

Great labels!
The only suggestion I've got is to make sure your buddy RichBrewer gets a bottle.

Some 10 plus years ago Don gave me a bottle of one of his last barrel aged homebrews. I was fortunate enough to take care of it and return it to the brewer.

Yes. It did stand the test of time. A bit timeworn for sure. Plummy, chewy, and slightly tart. Wonderful. It was the right time to open it.

That beer and the Webbs are survivors. The best of their qualities will always shine through.

If you had not heard... https://blog.seattlepi.com/washingt...house-takes-a-bow-closing-the-doors-for-good/