Shiner Packaging
I worked on Shiner packaging for several years. Suites include Bohemian Black, Bock, Light Blond, Cheer, Oktoberfest, Ruby Redbird and many others. During the process I worked with designers and vendors to choose spot colors and approve custom formulations to adjust for overprinting, created templates for designers to present concepts to clients that could easily translate to vendor templates, created mechanical files, and approved work on press checks.
The client required quick turn arounds on packaging photography to be included on sell sheets. I streamlined the process for creating digital mockups by using the design templates as smart objects within Photoshop. They snapped into a perfectly warped position. This reduced the workload on our in-house photography team and allowed us to more efficiently meet client deadlines.
A full beer suite for Shiner includes many pieces that are printed by various vendors around the country. Ensuring consistency takes a dedication to make things right from start to finish.
Golden Ale
The question on this packaging bottle label was how to get the right shiny, golden color that lives up to this beer’s namesake. Different printing processes needed different considerations.
For the bottle labels we explored metallic ink, foil, and metallized paper. The latter was the winner. The paper was printed with a transparent spot ink and wah lah! Golden!
Metallics ink can surprisingly end up looking dull and underwhelming. So this was printed with spot gloss over metallic areas to give it an extra pop.
The 12-pack was printed with the same technique as the 6-pack carriers.
Cans were printed with opaque inks and a transparent ink to accentuate the gold.
Credits
Meredith Callaway / Designer / Golden Ale
Erica Ellis / Designer / Ruby Redbird
Aimee Roberge / Designer / Bock, Light Blonde, Oktoberfest, Strawberry Blonde, Sea Salt Lime
Katherine Finn / Co-Designer / Sea Salt Lime
John Tullis / Designer / Poster — The Keg