Redefining a heritage brand into a modern icon.
Visual Identity | Packaging | Typography
When me and fellow designer Toby Felton took on the D&AD New Blood brief "Futureproof Chivas Regal", the challenge became clear. How can we inject a more contemporary look and feel into a brand that is steeped in rich heritage?
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During my research of the current Chivas Regal brand, I found a quote from actor Javier Bardem, in which he describes the whisky to be “a tsunami of flavours”. In the hopes of bringing the sense of taste into the visual identity, I created a series of numbers that drew inspiration from the movement of liquid to create a range of flowing typographical numbers. These were applied to the bottles to showcase a modern form of luxury, whereas the range of pre-mixed cans used the logo as a visual stamp, allowing them to remain as an easy-to-identify product within the Chivas Regal product lineup.
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One section of the brief asked for a new product concept that was aimed specifically towards people who were just beginning to discover Chivas Regal. For this, we created three solutions. The first is a range of pre-mixed cans that were easy to purchase at a lower cost than a standard bottle of whisky, allowing for an easy entry point into the brand. The second is a 3-year blended bottle, which would be significantly cheaper than the current 12-year entry bottle, whilst still providing the great taste of Chivas Regal. The final solution is a bottle that is aimed towards future generations of Chivas fans, the 78-year blend. Due to be released in the year 2100, this bottle would be the ultimate collector’s item for those who have been through the whole range of Chivas Regal whisky.
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Once the numbers had been crafted, the simple beauty of the line work was pushed to a point in which it was completely unrecognisable as a number. This abstract use of typography allowed the visual language to be very distinct, whilst also creating a link between every piece of branded content from Chivas Regal.
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