[SYD14]

2014 Sydney Design Awards

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Project Overview

To release the Nugan Estate Matriarch McLaren Vale Shiraz 2006, the Nugan family’s benchmark McLaren Vale Shiraz made in honour of Michelle Nugan, who recently retired after 27 years as CEO of the Nugan Group.

Project Commissioner

Nugan Estate

Project Creator

Depot Creative

Team

Angela Spindler-Creative Director/Designer
Impresstik-Printer

Project Brief

The client wanted this product to have a regal feel, to have confidence and yet be understated. To deliver this result, was like choosing a stunningly simple piece of jewellery worn against an unassuming black dress. The only way to achieve this was to employ a clever combination of print finishes with a minimalist design approach , too much of anything would have tipped it over the edge. Balance is everything.

Project Innovation/Need

The brand mark and packaging livery needed to have an understated elegance and simplicity with an overarching strength. The minimalist design and combined print effects allowed this.

The design inspiration draws on the medieval art form of illuminated letters. The brand mark is woven into the M symbol and elevated off the label through the combined finishes of embossing, high-build varnish and foiling. The remaining design elements are embossed and foiled, sitting on a sumptuous velvety black achieved by a double pass of black printed on an uncoated stock, complex printing but immaculately executed. The capsule label is a cross style band die-cut, embossed and foiled. The product is presented in a raw wooden box with the brand mark screen printed on the lid and front panel.

Design Challenge

The design challenge was the bottle, the finishes and the timing. Both the front and back labels are tapered to seamlessly fit the bottle profile, maximising the natural elegance of its shape.

Applying such a large front label with critical neck label alignment made this job quite challenging but the result was impeccable.

Effectiveness

The final result certainly delivered and the consumer feedback has been hugely positive. The design has scooped a Bronze at the 2013 International Design Awards and a Silver at the 2014 A Design Awards.




This award celebrates creative and innovative design in traditional or digital visual representation of ideas and messages used in packaging. Consideration given to: 

  • clarity of communication and the matching information style to audience; 
  • the approach, including marketing and branding concerns, the dynamics of the retail environment, environmental considerations, and legal requirements; 
  • the component parts of packaging graphics such as colour rationalisation, information layout, feel and tone of illustration and photography, and finishes, and how they are used in isolation and in relation to each other; and 
  • the relationship to the anatomy of the structural design.

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