Hand lettered and illustrated
My task was to create a design that evoked a feeling of being “cool,” which ended up being a greater challenge than I initially thought. I researched typography, color, and icons that trigger that sense of coolness. The beer also needed to resonate with the San Diego audience during the summertime, and the drastic measures people take to try to keep cool. I was pushed to create fan or thermostat iconography that clearly read “cool,” but I felt that those particular executions did not tell that much of a story, which would’ve been a miss.
However, we did have potential pieces of a story right around us that I felt could be leveraged for the label. The brewer for this particular beer, Lyndon Walker, is the most down-to-earth and lighthearted person you’ll ever meet. He and his family live in a part of San Diego known to be an old hippy, grungy beach town, but that has its own character and charm. Most houses in that area are old and have no air conditioning. He brews predominantly in our main brewery, which is know to be stiflingly hot during the summer, but he trudges through it anyway in the name of beer. If anyone deserved to have their summer story told, it’s Lyndon.
I started brainstorming funny and desperate ways in which San Diegans stay cool during the summer–putting clothes in the freezer, sleeping in the living room with the door open, etc. I landed on the idea of being fully submerged, clothes on, in a kiddie pool, because I felt like that execution was lighthearted, fun, relatable, and matched the mood of the beer and the brewer. There are a lot of nuggets in this label, such as Lyndon’s Hawaiian shirt (all brewers have branded Hawaiian shirts they wear on Friday’s), the rubber ducky in the pool (fellow brewers call him Ladybird), and the Liquid A/C can in his hand. I hand lettered the beer name and style to resemble ice and water, and be flowy and funky to match the beer’s story and Lyndon’s personality. The beer is only lightly hoppy, so I chose a lighter shade of green to evoke this.
Our team had to fight to get this design across the finish line. There’s sensitivity around using a figure on a label–historically, Karl Strauss the man used to be used to be the reigning figure, but the company wanted to drop the brand’s baggage of being old, tired, and expected. As a young woman in a male-dominated industry, it also took a while to build trust in my work. Presentations to the Sales department, the founders, and CEO were had, case studies were conducted with positive results, and the project, which was once paused, was finally pushed through.
Once the can and supporting merchandise were launched, positive feedback flowed in from employees and consumers alike.
I designed many different marketing materials for the Liquid A/C label, such as merchandise, tap handle stickers, print ads, posters, and designs for the web.
This beer went off to win Bronze in 2016 at the Great American Beer Festival.
The project has been featured on the back cover of West Coaster magazine, in San Diego Magazine, and other sources, which are found below.
“When a heat wave hits, it’s time to crank up the A/C. But for those of us without “actual” air conditioning, it may be time to stick your clothes in the freezer to cool down. If that fails and you’re still roasting alive, we got ya covered. Liquid A/C is a refreshing English Summer Ale born out of our small batch program. This GABF medal winner has toasted malt flavors with mild fruity esters, followed by a clean, crisp finish. As for inflatable pools? It turns out they pair perfectly with English Summer Ales – brewers’ boots and all.”
http://www.sandiegomagazine.com/Blogs/Behind-the-Brews/Summer-2017/Have-a-Beer-with-Karl-Strauss-Head-Brewer-Lyndon-Walker/
http://westcoastersd.com/pdf/September2017_forweb.pdf
https://www.karlstrauss.com/beer/liquid-ac-english-summer-ale/