Design Process for my Vodka Premix Bottle

1 July 2008 | Uncategorized | No Responses
Last Modified: 1 July 2008 @ 22:12

Vodka Bottles

Another university project completed and this time two weeks early. We had to create a Vodka premix bottle and label design for ‘Wedgetail Distillery’ using Cinema 4D and the Creative Suite. Here is how I went about doing it.

The scenario we were given (in short)

Wedgetail Distillery, makers of premium vodka produtcts have asked you to design the new bottle and labels for their pre-mixed vodka and citrus drink. It is a mid priced product (about $65 for a case of 24) and they are aiming for the 18 to 35 years market. It must have all the Australian legal requirements (which we had to research). It can have up to 4 colours including special or spots or CMYK if you wish. It must feature an eagle somewhere.

You must complete a 3D render of your bottle in Cinema 4D and the final presentation must be A4 in size and it must be targeted towards the client to sell your design concept.

Design Process

Research

I first redefined the problem then I researched bottle designs by going into my local bottle store and I also borrowed packaging books from the university library. I also researched the legal requirements for Australian packaging and alcohol. Who ever thought I was going to be researching Vodka?

Bottle Design Sketches

This was where we had to design the outline of the bottle. We could have any shape or texture or material we wanted, there were no restrictions.

I kept to the typical glass bottle design as I wanted to make it look realistic as possible however I did add some cool bevelled effects to the bottom of the glass bottle.

You can see to the left the shape of the bottle I designed.

Label Design Sketches & Vectorisation

After I had the bottle design done I could now start on the design of the label. I did a lot of sketches here and then once I had the general idea of how I wanted the design to look I started vectorising my ideas.

You can see the vector outline of my original label to the left and then the final label designs below. The fonts I used were Mesquite Std Medium (for Wedgetail), Adobe Garamond Pro Bold (for Citrus), Edwardian Script ITC Regular (for Premium Vodka).

The colours I used were Pantone 877C (Metallic), Pantone 8404C (Metallic), Pantone 1795 C (Solid Uncoated), Pantone Process Black U.

Final Vodka Labels

3D Rendering

After the labels were completed we had to render the 3D bottle in Cinema 4D from our original bottle designs (this was a big learning curve, let me tell you!). After we had rendered the 3D bottle then we had to bring the labels into Cinema 4D and wrap them around the 3D Bottle.

Below you can see a screenshot from Cinema 4D of me doing all of this.

Cinema 4D

Presentation

After I had completed all the renderings it was time for me to make them presentable. In Photoshop I experimented with different backgrounds and effects to see what was the best. Below you can see just some of the experimentations of different background effects.

I added the lemons into the composition to for scale and to add a bit of contrast to the image and to emphasise the citrus flavour of the vodka premix drink. I created smoke using the clouds filter and then used a light feathering on the clouds and then I added a zoom effect to make it look like a kind of back light coming out of the bottle.

Experimentation

Final Composition

Below is the final A4 composition that I printed out on Semi Gloss photo paper and to be honest it looks so much better in print. What do you guys think?

If you want to check out more of my university work go here.

Wedgetail Vodka Bottle