“Self-initiated project, redesign of my favourite Belgian beers labels.”
It’s no secret, some of the Belgian Beers labels might seem a little bit outdated. With traditional beers, the traditional (and maybe even outdated) label seems like a right fit, but does it have to be that way? Ján Bača, a Slovak born graphic designer and illustrator based in Hamburg, Germany, wanted to find out and explore what these traditional Belgian beer labels could look like.
What inspired this project?
I have a family living in Belgium and every time I was visiting them we ended up in a bar drinking those amazing Belgian beers. The look of the labels was always the only thing I kind of dislike–I get the historical background but I thought they don’t really fit into 21st century.
How was the design process?
The whole project was basically my personal exploration on the topic of visual presentation of traditional Belgian beer brands. So I simply sketched out what such update could look like. Obviously, there wasn’t any input from the beer brands themselves so I only followed my instinct and my taste. Even without any feedback, I still designed many versions and picked and showed just my favourites at the end.
I wanted the beer labels to look quite progressive so the difference between the old and the new labels is as obvious as possible. That includes avoiding the typical cliches, mainly black letter typefaces, monks, gold, vitrage windows and god knows what else. I know every brand is proud of their history but when everyone else plays the same card…it just doesn’t work. Looking at the project now I would do many things differently but that’s life!
“Self-initiated project, redesign of my favourite Belgian beers labels. I tried to avoid typical beer labels cliché and created fresh, shiny designs which would be greatly visible on shelves, while keeping brands’ original colour schemes and identity elements. Cheers!”
Ján Bača
What was the response like?
I have received a very positive feedback from many individuals as well as design agencies and based on this personal beer label project. I was commissioned with some real rebranding tasks, such as for Kent Brewery.
Let us know what you think of these new Belgian beer labels! Also check out Ján Bača’s other work on Behance or his website.
