Cheers to Outstanding Design: Award-Winning Beverage Packaging From iF Design Awards 2021
by Dieline Author on 06/16/2021 | 9 Minute Read
Packaging design has long been about more than an attractive outer covering. It's about messages that must get across to the consumer in the shortest amount of time possible. Some of the most outstanding ideas won at the iF DESIGN AWARDS 2021.
Be it water and fruit juice or beer, wine, and spirits, beverages are part of everyday life and cater to the most varied tastes and needs. So does their packaging. It has long ceased to be just a container. It's the beverage’s brand ambassador, and ideally, its design will directly convey a lifestyle for which the product and the brand stand.
Numerous packaging designers from around the world get celebrated under the iF motto “The Creative Power of Design.” Their prize-worthy solutions went mainly for sustainability in the form of recycling and reusability of the packaging. Many award winners also found inspiration in the origin of the beverages, making tradition, landscape, or craftsmanship directly tangible for consumers without them first having to read and understand a label. The result spells a unique connection between person and product.
You can find all of the packaging design winners from iF DESIGN AWARDS 2021 here.
You can also download the brand new iF DESIGN app here.
A Can Has No Name (MTN DEW) soft drink can
All for the throne: A Can Has No Name (MTN DEW) by PepsiCo is a soft drink can connecting dedicated fans who love both Mtn Dew® and Game of Thrones. Before any official MTN DEW/Game of Thrones partnership, fans were already drawing parallels between the two. In anticipation of the final season of Game of Thrones, HBO challenged both fans and brands with the question “What Would You Do for the Throne?” MTN DEW and the Design team were willing to sacrifice everything: brand, name, and iconic visual identity.
acqua chiarella Water Bottle
Pure aesthetics: acqua chiarella by Acque Minerali Val Menaggio S.r.l. was designed by the Lorenzo Palmeri Studio to establish a tactile relationship with the user thanks to the tightening at the center of the bottle and the raised relief design at the base. The foot on the bottle’s base solves the problem of “scarfing.” Any eventual scarfing marks are also transformed into an aesthetic advantage as natural wear of the glass causes filtering light to be more refracted at the base of the bottle. The design is an innovation that has defied the production limitations of the tension of the glass.
Budweiser Boombox Package Beer Packaging
Bring the party home: For consumers tired of Covid-19 social distancing, Budweiser Korea offered a special promotional package designed by draftLine Seoul and manufactured by AB InBev. As a brand that energizes consumers to seize opportunity, the company wanted to inspire people to stay optimistic. So this packaging puts beer cans in a boombox. The user is invited to play music on the beer box/boom box when enjoying a bottle of Bud, creating unforgettable memories. Furthermore, by turning a single-use beer package into a Bluetooth speaker, consumers can reuse the package.
CIGA Design Red Wine Bottle Wine Packaging
Beautifully revealing: This CIGA Design packaging for red wine showcases a beverage and tradition that now plays an indispensable role in both Asian and Western cultures. Wine makes people creative, imaginative, and the CIGA designers wanted to express this beautiful feeling in the packaging. As the bottle is emptied, an abstract image of a sexy body appears, a little surprise for the users and one that is meant to encourage a festive atmosphere. After consumption, the bottle offers a great reuse option as an artistic flower vase when turned upside down.
Design Uranus Team Liquor Packaging
A tribute to nature: Chishui River is a Chinese liquor brewery known for its quality products thanks to its unique geographical environment, climate, and water sources. Designed and manufactured by Shenzhen Baixinglong Creative Packaging, the body of the outer box uses visuals and textures to invoke this natural world, presenting the shape of the Chishui River basin. The shape of the bottle also references the river, a pool of teal blue edged by bold silver shores, expressing the stunning nature of this ecological basin and paying tribute to the breathtaking scenery of the region.
Drink with Song liquor packaging
Like a second skin: The Drink with Song packaging design was created by the Chihlee University of Technology for Kinmen Sorghum liquor, and is manufactured by Rice Advertising. The designers took the bottle carved with a traditional Chinese dragon and created an outer packaging that adheres closely to the bottle shape and carving but also functions as a way to carry the bottle. The materials are eco-friendly and also offer high brand recognition, essentially presenting an exact likeness of the bottle but in molded recycled paper pulp.
Hito to Ki to Hitotoki Sake Bottle
More than cool design: The Polar Bottle is a multi-functional beer bottle that uses a glacier landscape as its key design motif. The special design by FF Design, Jilin University and XDJH (Changchun) Trading Co. stands out among many similar products on supermarket shelves. By means of the combination of different design elements, the bottle forms a landscape of polar glaciers, expressing vision and a unique artistic look. The striking design means that users will want to reuse the bottles after consumption as decorations or vases—an environmental plus.
Kopke Colheita 1940 Day & Night Port Wine Packaging
Eight decades to perfection: Kopke, Portugal's oldest port wine producer, chose 2020 for the simultaneous launch of its Colheita Tawny and White Port 1940. Design agency Omdesign created a packaging concept that celebrates the 1940s. It is manufactured by Sogevinus. The key design motif is Day and Night, represented by a crescent moon symbol paired with Kopke's logo. The imagery and simple black and white palette reference the cycle of days and nights repeated for a whole eight decades during which these precious wines aged to perfection.
LIFEWTR S1 Arte Sin Fronteras Mexico Water Bottle
More than water. A canvas for artists: First launched in the U.S. in January 2017, LIFEWTR has since released nine series, each raising awareness around a cultural anchor that is relevant to society and unveiling the work of three artists working in that space. In 2019, LIFEWTR expanded to Mexico with Series 1: Arte Sin Fronteras (Art Without Borders), a series that celebrates the power of art to transcend boundaries and foster cultural understanding. This series is a continuation of LIFEWTR’s global series Art Beyond Borders, which launched in the United States as Series 5.
Nordic Gin House Liquor Packaging
With Nordic distinction: Nordic Gin House wanted to create a unique Nordic gin as a tribute to the Danish capital. The brand recruited a team of creatives that included Jeppe Nothlev, Jakob Kocemba, Steinar Jensen, Jon Bertelsen, Mats Lihnell, and David Asmussen. Together they teamed up with Jakob Vallentin to develop several quality distillations, one of which emerged as the best. The bottle is inspired by a traditional pharmacy bottle, a premium and distinct look that captures the simplicity and minimalist design heritage of Denmark.
POWER TEMPTATION Wine Bottle
Just like paradise: This bottle design by Left and Right Creative Design was created for the new brand “Power Temptation” to give it a stronger narrative and brand recognition that attracts young Chinese consumers. These ornate labels are highly decorative and alluring, with images of flora and fauna that tell the story of Adam and Eve and their temptation in the Garden of Eden. The labels use trend colors that appeal to young consumers and have helped boost sales of this product.
Rainforest Artesian Water Water Bottle
Sustainable design: This bottle was designed to help eliminate single-use plastics. The first water bottle in aluminum packaging by Trivium Packaging USA uses 25% recycled aluminum and can be re-closed, refilled and 100% recycled with no plastic components. Its intricate and eye-catching labeling pays homage to the source of the bottled water, namely the rainforest. The bottle’s lightweight and unbreakable elements appeal to the on-the-go, eco-aware consumer. Sourced from artesian springs, the water is gravity fed to the bottling plant without the use of energy. A portion of every sale goes towards reforestation.
The Polar Bottle Beer Bottle
More than cool design: The Polar Bottle is a multi-functional beer bottle that uses a glacier landscape as its key design motif. The special design by FF Design, Jilin University and XDJH (Changchun) Trading Co. stands out among many similar products on supermarket shelves. By means of the combination of different design elements, the bottle forms a landscape of polar glaciers, expressing vision and a unique artistic look. The striking design means that users will want to reuse the bottles after consumption as decorations or vases—an environmental plus.
You will find all winners of the iF DESIGN AWARD 2021 in the packaging design category here