I knew if I just wished it hard enough, a winery would eventually ask me to design their latest labels! Lo and behold Vanguardist Wines got in touch and I couldn't have been happier to work with such passionate people. A collaborative project between three international friends, Vanguardist Wines as the name suggests is all about having an experimental and adventurous nature, producing wines that are delicious, textural, enticing and challenge the status quo.
Photos courtesy of Vanguardist Wines. To purchase visit their online shop or for the latest follow their instagram.
Behind The Scenes
It was a whole lot of fun coming up with concepts for these wines. The aim was to get in a younger audience of curious-minded people, attracting classic palates and less educated drinkers alike, both keen to try something new or expand their knowledge of wine. A wine of integrity, focusing on fruit purity, precision and organic production, handled with minimal intervention. The overall vision of Vanguard Wines is 'experimental at heart', producing textural and innovative wines that are inclusive, enticing and push the boundaries of wine-making.
The Imagery
Throughout the ideation process my aim was to represent La Petite Vanguard as the little guy - strong, imaginative, intrepid, resolute and on the forefront - reflecting on an initial concept of the lonely military adventurer, but with a distinct personality for each wine.
I took some inspiration from the medievel military source of the terms vanguard and avant-garde and expanded upon those concepts in ways I hoped were charming or humorous and would appeal to the target audience.
Layout
Once I had a general sense of the characters, I moved on to creating rough concepts of the packages, demonstrating the environments and positioning of the text elements. In this instance while the theme of each is the same, the composition of the illustrations changed quite a bit in the final versions, giving a greater sense of unity and consistency (see above).
Colour
Working in Adobe Illustrator allows me to change and refine the colour scheme in a snap. I like to present a few different options because colour can impact how a design is perceived. It might also give the work a different angle or added depth. For Darkstar I presented three main colour combinations (also above) and I'm very happy with the final choice!