This content was originally published by The Hop Review, a digital magazine that joined the Hop Culture family in March 2020.
This piece was written by Jack Muldowney.
VANCOUVER
Sometimes, all a brand needs is the bare minimum. And often, that type of solution might sound easier said than done. Stripping a design down to just its bones can be a tough sell, but there’s an elegance in many of these minimalistic approaches. Here, we take a look at our simplest brand to date: Steel & Oak, a taproom offering growler and howler fills just east of Vancouver in New Westminster, BC. Canadian design shop, Also Known As, gets credit for the packaging.
There is a certain tone elicited from some nicely-set condensed type. Here, those letterforms take center stage. A simple “S&O” adorns the span of the growlers, and the howlers. On the backside, a similarly simple logo exists with stacked type in the same condensed font, in a simple square container. Toss in an address and a url and: boom. You’ve got some minimally fresh beer designs. For one, the bold typographic approach is a nice break from the normal growler adornment. Normally I am not a huge fan of simple 1-color white screenprinting, but the scale and layout of this seems a proper fit. Pour me a growler/howler!
Images from Also Known As
TYPOGRAPHY: 6/10
PACKAGING: 5/10
CONSISTENCY: 8/10
BARE-BONES-Y LAYOUT: 9/10