A wizard, an orb, and a staff walk into a bar. What happened next is only to be known after drinking The Wizard. 818 Design, a design studio based in Iowa, worked with Fathom to create a beer can that came to life. When the drinker’s viewpoint changes as they drink their can, the Northern Lights-inspired background graphics moves as well. Talk about enchanting. The inside of The Wizard contains a citrusy tartness that will most definitely awaken your palate; the outside of the can might just do the same.
When Confluence Brewing took on the ancient gose style of sour ale, the result was The Wizard. Co-founder and head brewer John Martin says, “We honored that natural sort of magic by culturing lactobacillus organically from our grain to quickly sour a whole batch of beer. The resulting brew retains the magic of the 1000-year-old style, with a citrus-like tartness and minerality that awakens and refreshes your palate with each sip.”
With this history, Confluence needed a label that would uniquely portray conjuring and magic. Their planned embellishment was showing the gleam of the can through translucent substrate, but that wasn’t going to cut it, and more wonder-inducing effects were too expensive or impossible on shrink sleeves.
For a new direction, Martin turned to Fathom Optics, who had just introduced a software platform that brings printed depth and motion graphics to packaging without requiring specialty inks or substrates and without the need for additional materials, such as lenticulars or foils. Fathom’s patented algorithmic technology leverages clear substrates on flexo and offset presses to add a new kind of embellishment to prime labels and shrink sleeves.
Confluence and 818 Design—the original label designers—worked with Fathom Optics to enhance the design’s most characteristic features: the wizard, staff and orb. The night sky provided a natural basis for a moving effect. When the consumer’s viewpoint changes, the background graphics move as well.
Grace Label in Des Moines ran the job on a flexo press, using Fathom’s software to produce additional plate files from the PDF design as part of their regular workflow.
Josh Maxson, Confluence Production Manager, describes the effect in action: “The design seems to be on three different levels with our wizard design in the middle, and a Northern Lights effect in the background. At the top of the Wizard’s staff, we have an orb which now seems to come out from the front of the label and rotate.”
Confluence has shifted its distribution plan to produce The Wizard package with motion graphics year-round. Martin says, “We’re happy to have innovated with this label—I’m confident that the enhanced design and branding will result in increased visibility and sales of this product.”
