Case Study

East Vancouver’s Favourite Brewery & Tasting Room

Intent

The next step for Steve Forsythe after owning Vancouver’s beloved Railway Club, was Off The Rail Brewing Co. with it’s neat play on the previous business name. A proud supporter of local artists in all their forms, Steve regularly brings in their works to exhibit in the onsite tasting room, and to design their packaging–in this case, the designs for two different autumn seasonal beer selections.

Solution

Designs were produced for 650ml bomber bottles and for 473ml cans. Four labels were produced for each of the two years’ seasons. The designs needed to be quite different from each other, but with a consistent placement of the client’s Off The Rail logo.

Each of the two seasons also needed to have distinctly different styling. For the first season we opted for artistic collage-style designs with a focus on typography treatments. The second season saw a more playful approach to the four brews for that year.

Result

Like with Hillside Winery, Off The Rail didn’t need me to help sell beer. However they continued to sell well for as long as the brews lasted. The second season sold so well I didn’t even get to try three of the four flavours.

Beverage Packaging

Autumn 2018

The idea here was to create an autumn motif, but to stay away from clichéd imagery of leaves, trees, pumpkins, etc. Off The Rail and I landed on certain keywords, which translated to imagery and symbols invoking darkness and timelessness. These images, combined with contemporary typography treatments in warm, autumnal colours looked as natural as could be on the shelves at local retailers.

Shown are the labels for the 650ml bomber bottles. Designs were also produced for the 473ml cans.

Beverage Packaging

Autumn 2019

The second season saw a shift in the direction of the fall seasonal beer labels. The idea was to maintain the dark theme from the first season I designed the year before, but to get a bit more playful both in the naming of the brews and the label designs. Off The Rail and I decided on specific palettes and symbol-driven imagery.

Shown are the labels for the 650ml bomber bottles. Designs were also produced for the 473ml cans.