Label Design Archives - Drink With Your Eyes®

Purchasing Efficiencies & Lead Times

August 27, 2024 by David Schuemann Leave a Comment

An uncertain start to 2024 left many customers limiting their discretionary spending and distillers looking for ways to cut costs or postpone supply reorders until they understood the financial impact of the market shift.

Luckily, finding purchasing efficiencies not only reduces your cost in the long run, but it also has the added benefit of allowing you more control over lead times.

Purchasing Efficiency
Here are some strategies for incorporating purchasing efficiencies, their benefits and potential watch outs … Continue reading

Setting the Stage for Growth for
Sonoma Distilling Co.: A Case Study

January 3, 2024 by David Schuemann Leave a Comment

In 2020, Corning & Company made the decision to revamp the packaging for their line of whiskeys under the Sonoma Distilling Co. brand.

The brand had recently undergone a packaging redesign with another agency, however, as they grew into a larger-scale facility and expanded their product line to specialty products, the necessity for developing a flexible packaging system became clear. In addition, their brand wordmark was used inconsistently across the range of products. On some spirits the full “Sonoma Distilling … Continue reading

A Story of Two Roads – The Marketing-Driven Route

April 14, 2022 by David Schuemann Leave a Comment

This is the third and final article in a series that covers the road to market. In Part Three, we will cover the increasingly popular marketing-driven route to develop your spirits brand and bring it to market. This method saves a huge amount of regulatory and facility-focused time and resources, freeing up bandwidth and capital for you to focus on brand development, marketing, sales, distribution, and expansion. This method is far less expensive than developing your own distillery and will

Hand Sanitizer & Your Craft Brand

July 13, 2020 by David Schuemann Leave a Comment

If there was ever an opportunity to both support your local community and build brand awareness for your distillery, it is now.

With tasting rooms, restaurants, bars and many retail outlets shutdown over the past couple months due to Covid-19, many distilleries saw a freefall in sales. Once the legal hurdles were cleared, many distilleries quickly shifted to producing hand sanitizer instead of their high-quality, craft products. This shift in production not only answered the call of their country to … Continue reading

5 Trends in Craft Spirits Packaging

February 6, 2019 by David Schuemann 2 Comments

The craft spirits boom has flooded the market with thousands of new brands that have successfully carved out a niche for themselves by leveraging package designs that promise quality through evocative design and hand-crafted sensibilities.

Over the past few years, many trends in craft spirits packaging have emerged. Some work well, others may be played out and one may be gaining traction. There is no silver bullet, however, knowing the lay of the land is critical and worth considering when … Continue reading

Copyright vs. Trademark for Alcohol Beverage Branding

September 4, 2015 by David Schuemann 2 Comments

Navigating the legal waters of intellectual property can be tricky – here’s what you need to know when it comes to the two most common terms.

Ensuring your brand is legally protected is crucial if you’re going to compete in the ever-crowding alcohol beverage market. When it comes to developing your logo, package design, and other intellectual property, it’s important to know the difference between Copyright vs. Trademark so that you know what to protect, and how. Failing to ensure … Continue reading

The Dos and Don’ts of Label Hierarchy for Alcohol Beverage Branding

June 25, 2015 by David Schuemann Leave a Comment

When consumers are choosing a wine, spirit or beer from the shelf or at a restaurant, they are influenced both by analytical and aesthetic cues provided by the packaging and its label hierarchy of information. Here’s what you need to know about this delicate balance to influence consumers to choose your product over your competitor’s.

Typical Hierarchy

In very general terms a typical label hierarchy from most prominent to the least prominent is as follows:

Brand Name
Product Type/Flavor (Gin,