Graphic design
The Australian wine industry is well served by graphic designers.
Graphic design has been instrumental in transmitting the style
of Australian wine to the world. It plays an important role in branding
Australian wines and marketing them domestically and globally.
Graphic design incorporates logos, stationery and other business
communications material.
Graphic designs for wine labels is a speciality, so to is packaging
design.
Wine Diva’s listings include wine labelling design companies and package design companies.
When working with graphic designers, always give them a written design brief as well as having a face-to-face meeting. It is very hard to change a design to incorporate an element that has been forgotten!
What to include in your design brief
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Give the job a name – eg "Illawarra F lametree Label Series"
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Provide some background, covering the purpose of the design and the intended audience – eg "Illawarra Flametree Vineyard is seeking to develop a new wine series to appeal to the under 30s market. This job is to design the labels for the wines in the series."
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Describe the "flavour" and "feel" that you want – eg "These designs should be bright, colourful, ‘groovy/cool’, with strong graphics that include a touch of humour."
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Provide the exact specifications – eg "There are three wines in the series. Each wine bottle will have two labels, one on the front and one on the back of the bottle. Both front and back labels are 10cm wide x 7cm high. The front labels will carry most of the graphical impact."
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Provide all of the text that must be used – eg
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"Each front label has to include the following text:
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Name of wine (prominent). (The three wines are named "Blue days", "Yellow days" and "Purple days")
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Flametree (less prominent)
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"Each back label to include the following text: … "
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Provide any images that must be used – eg "Each back label must have a 1.5 x 2.5 cm space left for the barcode and include the attached logo"
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Set out any technical details, including number of colours, whether the printed design can go right to the edge (bleed), eg: "We have budgeted for four-colour process printing plus one metallic impression (eg gold or silver) if needed. Design can bleed to edge of label. Designer to advise on choice of paper stock (eg matt or gloss)."
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Include a timeline for delivery – eg "Please aim to complete the colour design roughs by 12 February for a meeting with us later in that week. The final design with any changes agreed at the meeting should be provided as colour prints for approval/final corrections on 28 February. Artwork for the printer should be delivered no later than 15 March."
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Include delivery specifications (talk to your printer first) – eg "Final artwork ready for the printer should be provided in pdf format on CD, and include all fonts, images etc needed for printing"
What not to include in a design brief
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When working with professional designers, you would not usually try to "solve" or preempt the design. It is best to describe the effect you want, not how to achieve it. Avoid specifying particular colours, positions or elements, unless there is a good reason such as a pre-existing logo or the need for the design to match other products. Design is an art. It is difficult to make someone else’s ideas work and come up with something fabulous at the same time.
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Avoid asking for too much text to be included. It is difficult to make a design work graphically that has a lot of text, too many competing elements, too many headings, too many messages.