CHANTAJE MEZCAL

CHANTAJE is a rebranding direction of an independent manufacturer from Mexico. The current style of the labels were not designed for the American market and have struggled to grow. I took on this project because of its unique story regarding the owner. He comes from 5 generations of producing mezcal and took on the great undertaking of farming the agave, distilling, bottling, label design and distributing his product. The taste is rich and distinctive that I thought it deserved a label to match. 

Looking at the current version, I knew that it had to be simplified down to its easiest appearance. After spending time looking other popular mezcals and tequilas, it was clear that this simpler direction needed contrast against the others to stand out. It shouldn't be too minimal that it looks  like a minimalist poster and it shouldn't be peppered with decorative, illegible, cursive text like so many other labels. From my observations these are the two extremes, and with some thought, there could be some strong visuals that could be done. 

Timeless elements of Mexican culture can be observed in their use of bright colors of textiles and ornate intricate illustrations by the Aztecs. There are 7 types of Meazcals that are sold by Benesin, so it was important creating a simple design that would be cohesive throughout all labels. I decided to use colors and numbers to make it easy and intuitive for customers to see the difference between each one. These are the results.

A LOOK BACK AT DECEMBER 2015

At the beginning of December, I knew that I wanted to do something that would kickstart my transition into 2016 with an energetic jump. I decided to make a list, and from that think of gifts to make for the close ones. But for everyone I would make a christmas card for and mail it because the only things that we get in the mail these days are bills and amazon boxes. I quickly sketched the card and finalized it within a couple days. I have access to an OKI 941 that has the ability to print white ink, which I thought would be perfect for a cool looking card. I printed the cards on and envelopes and focused on making gifts for the close ones. A good design exercise it turned out to be and also quite time consuming but it was all worth the time knowing that be spending New Years in NYC with some of my closest friends. 

Part one of the trip was going from Maryland to New York City

Part two of the trip was getting from NYC to Moretown, Vermont.

Part three was getting from Vermont back to Maryland and eventually back to San Francisco.