Pack of the Month: Braw Liquor Club Revels In the Scottish Landscape

You don’t need much to paint a landscape. 

Any 30-minute Bob Ross will prove as much, but have any of us ever genuinely attempted to put our brushes where our mouths are? Also, maybe don’t put that brush in your mouth?

That said, I've always been fascinated with how children will paint a landscape. Here’s a bar of green for the grass, a couple of triangles for the mountains, and, blammo, there’s the sun. Well, that’s what you get with our first Dieline Pack of the Month for 2022. Braw Liquor Club elegantly—and even abstractly— portrays the Scottish landscape for this brand new line of locally sourced small-batch cocktails. 

We spoke to My Creative designer and founder Ewan Leckie about the bottle design for Braw Liquor Club and its very layered approach.

Walk us through the design process that you went through for this project.

We kicked off the project in the usual way; by asking questions and exploring the market. We leaned on the client's knowledge of drinks recipes and researched this relatively new industry of premixed cocktails for the home market.

We were soon able to isolate and focus on the core elements of the brand that could set them apart while showcasing a clear, confident voice (quality, locally Sourced, innovative, and of Scotland).

From the early stages, the idea of a label system that could depict the mixologist's craft was important to us. We studded strong color combinations, similar to layering flavors and spirits together to create a cocktail and developing palettes that would represent their ingredients.  

What was one of the biggest goals you set out to achieve with the Braw Liquor Club packaging, and how did you accomplish it?

We're creating something of a lifestyle brand, so it's a desirable must-have product. Selling predominantly online, the brand and packaging had to grab attention and reflect the quality of the cocktail. With that in mind, we agreed that the brand name did not need to be as prominent. But we could let the label illustration and liquid color do the selling.  

The landscape depicted on the bottle is both elegant and somewhat abstract. Why were you so keen on highlighting the Scottish landscape in this manner on the bottle?

The abstract approach hopefully allows the customer to make up their mind on what they see and invites them in.

Again, the colored layers of each product seemed to fit well with the composition of a landscape; using foreground, mid-ground, and background to form a mountain range or island seascape. That helped us link the product with its origin. Although not modeled on exact landscapes, the abstract designs seem familiar, and we believe they could be from any part of West Coast Scotland. That is my take on it. I’ve seen these shape combinations my whole life, and it was a joy to produce them.

Adding to the illustrations, we framed each “landscape” in the shape of the most suitable and iconic serving glass—rocks glass for the old-fashioned and a coupe glass for the Bramble. With this concept, we can give new products a distinct design that complements the range.

What inspired the hole punch in the label?

It was always part of the early designs, first as a cocktail garnish, like a slice of orange or cherry. But this quickly became a sun and a really nice way to introduce the exact color of the liquid to the front illustration on the bottle.

The die-cut will get set up for each new label, and we bought a set of large single-hole punches so the client can embellish business cards and menu cards in the same way as the label.

What was the most challenging part of this project?

We still needed to marry up all the elements into a consistent system that could work now and into the future. We looked at different bottle types, wood enclosure versus metal or colored paper types, and color combinations—all generating dozens of variable options. 

Keeping my head straight was a challenge! Refining down to the most effective direction took time.

If you could pick one aspect of the finished design that you like the most or feel especially proud of, what would it be and why?

I was really please we decided to cut the circular sun shape from each label. It helped to link things up and make them feel unique. Its also been achieved on the postal stickers. So people will recognize it and get excited at the unboxing experience.