Judge a can by its cover.
Attachment options… Dave Andrew from the UK designed the typeface which was used in the the final product
El Hefe Final Design
We all are familiar with the phrase "don't judge a book by its cover", which is true for people, but not for cans. When I was 10 I had three things I loved: baseball, Batman, and cans. Why cans? I was fascinated by the art and weird flavors that came in those of cans, which made me start a small collection. From The Shasta Colas, A&W Root beer to Coke cans from around the world, I picked up everything I could get my hands on. As any 10-year-old with limited funds, I kept my collection small and mighty. Soon enough I moved on to other things.
Years later, I found myself working with my first brewery, developing packaging for their beer. The brewery was shifting from bottles to cans as it was better for the beer and easier to package. This was my chance to work on something I had been chasing since I was ten, but didn't even realize it was something I wanted. I poured everything into getting the packaging right, as I wanted to make the cans stand out with a unique color and clear typeface. This was the first of many cans that I helped craft with my team. Seeing it on shelves for the first time and having a stranger buying it was one of my proudest moments.
Years later, because of that work, I am now able to work with my favorite brewery and friends at Southern Star Brewing on refreshing their iconic beer: Bombshell Blonde.
The phrase "don't judge a book by its cover" may be true for people and books, but unfortunately, when it comes to packaging, it falls short. We shop with our eyes and touch, and people pick up a product for two reasons. The first reason is brand reputation, regardless of what the product is, as it is a low-risk option. The second reason is the packaging is so interesting that it begs to be picked up.
We know the inside is amazing, but we rely on the packaging to shine by capturing their attention and landing in their cart.
Each can must tell a story in a fraction of a second as you are fighting for attention on an overwhelming shelf. One way to do this is to create something that has never been done before. Recently, we did this with Texas Punch, the first can, as far as I know, to have an anaglyph design revealing two designs in the same can that consumers can discover using a special filter we created or using old-school 3D glasses. The idea behind it was having two things come together, Texas meets Hawaii, while intriguing the shopper to look at it and pick it up.
