Brief 

Conveniently, the last brief of course was an open one which permitted us to select, amongst others, the opportunity to design a label and bottle for a spirit or another alcoholic beverage. To this end, I selected “absinthe” as my drink of choice, the much-fabled, potent and hallucinogenic wormwood liqueur often drunk by poets, artists and other creatives in the past. Such consumers often reported on the psychoactive effects of the drink and the ritualistic of preparing absinthe for drinking inspired me greatly in this case. 

Brand 

The brand identity I created for this brief was that of “Eldritch”, a small spirit brewery located in Noordhoek, just outside of Cape Town. The area is wellknown for having multiple small breweries though it is more common to brew beer here. The name Eldritch refers to “eldritch horror” such as that associated with the work of H.P. Lovecraft, whose writings inspired the visual focus of this project, as well as a nod to the terrifying visions many have reported under the influence of absinthe. 

Concept

 My focus for the visual approach to this project was largely inspired by the short story “The Call of Cthulhu” by Lovecraft and I wanted to incorporate the appearance of the elder-god figure into the label as a primary focus. This was executed through digital illustration to allow for a symmetrical design and the ability to cram as much detail into the illustration as possible. This would also allow for the incorporation of text later on, as the tentacles of the octopus-like Cthulhu provided visual interest when tangled with the type.

Initially, my idea for the design of the absinthe bottle involved the use of glow in the dark screen printing ink so that the bottle would appear much changed in a dark environment, evoking the idea of “hallucination” often associated with absinthe. However I soon found that this was a very complicated and time-consuming process to enact and so I instead took inspiration from the designs of a Canadian design company, Hired Guns Creative, designing a unique illustrated label that would wrap around the bottle to create both an interesting shape and some real dimension. As mentioned earlier, I was much inspired by the work of Lovecraft and so named the brew “Eldritch” as a nod to the concept of eldritch horror that Lovecraft became known for. I made sure to make the illustration as detailed as possible, including octopod anatomy like chromatophores in order to give the impression of a bizarre, yet somehow believable entity.

In this brief I relished the opportunity to be able to bring my love of illustrating into a three dimensional format. Earlier in the course, I discovered I really enjoyed designing labels for beverages and similar spirits and was happy to have the chance to revisit the medium in this brief. I was also glad to be able to incorporate elements of eldritch horror into a brief as this was truly what started me on my current artistic journey. Along the way there were multiple challenges to be overcome with regards to the final execution of the project but I was happy with how it turned out regardless. In order to solve such problems I had to get creative and learn new skills in order to bring my vision to life, something I think I was able to achieve. As in most briefs, there are certainly things I would have done differently a second time around and wish that I was able to extend the visual language of the label to elements like the cork or cap of the bottle. However, considering the time frame of the project, this was to be expected.