Here Design has unveiled The Balvenie Stories, a new collection of three whiskeys from The Balvenie which launch this week. As a studio that designs both books and packaging, Here approached the design for the new whiskey packaging like book covers, telling tales of human character, endeavor and craft. Each pack features bespoke illustrations by British artist Andy Lovell, depicting the real-life stories of the craftspeople behind the liquid.
The tone of voice and copy plays a vital role. The evocative and descriptive names for these whiskeys defy category convention by referring to specific aspects and details of each story, and the back of each pack is given over to a long-form description of the whiskey story with signatures from the different characters that played a vital role in their production.
To enrich the experience of these whiskeys further, the bottle also incorporates an NFC-enabled neck tag that links to podcasts telling this story through audio conversations with the different craftspeople behind the liquid, as well as a guided whiskey tasting.
To accompany the launch of the liquid range in autumn 2019, The Balvenie will also publish a book of short fiction and non-fiction stories: Pursuit - The Balvenie Stories Collection. Designed by Here and incorporating works from acclaimed writers around the world, the book also features original illustrations of the distillery in a dramatic, telegraphic form.
In addition to the packaging and book, Here have created a comprehensive visual toolkit for the launch of these whiskeys including two- and three-dimensional key visuals.
"Our aspiration for the package and book design was to reflect the humanity of the makers at The Balvenie distillery and their story - and to reflect the fact that each whisky was influenced and authored by a team of passionate distillery workers," commented Creative Partner Mark Paton from Here Design. "We wanted to ensure that the design was bold and Andy's artwork was just that - handmade and expressive textures from his work hark back to the physical craft of producing whisky which brought the stories to life."
