Evaluation and Conclusion of Module 4 Wylam

My concept for the Wylam brief came from the company’s desire for a traditional design, based around their new Roman inspired ale. Carrying this Roman theme into my design, my initial idea was to have the Roman god of alcohol, Bacchus, surrounded by his followers - the Faunus, and Roman soldiers. They would be depicted as drinking beer and having a party in order to associate the drinking of this particular product with having fun. Additionally, I chose to try and tailor my illustrations to mimic the style of a spiral frieze, like that of Trajan's Column. This decision was made as the Column depicts an ancient Roman battle and is widely considered as one of the first examples of narrative illustration. This links in nicely with the concept and inspiration for the ale I have designed a label for, as it is not only Roman inspired but is based upon an ancient recipe for a ‘Battle Booster’ drink. This was intended to improve soldier moral and fighting prowess. By basing my design presentation on that of a spiral frieze I would be able to address Wylam’s desire for a more traditional design, by using more muted colours and adding greater detail. This is unlike many modern craft beer label designs as many incorporate more simplistic shapes and a limited colour palette of black or white, and 2-4 bright colours.
Part way through my project, however, I decided to cut the idea of Bacchus due to his relative uncommonness in the modern world. Additionally, the image of a morbidly obese man drinking alcohol (as he was traditionally most commonly portrayed) implies negative health implications from drinking the product. I instead decided to simply imply his presence through an image of the Roman soldiers and Faunus drinking and celebrating together. The font and style of illustration, I feel, maintained the required historical context throughout the image. It took a number of attempts to work on creating a convincing carved stone effect, and I believe that what I created was the best possible result. Unfortunately, due to the nature of this effect (very similar stone and character colours, only differentiated by shading)I feel that the characters may be a little lost to the background. However, overall I felt this sufficiently maintained the Roman theme that the brand is orientated around.
My initial concept was strong and gave me a very good basis from which to start working from. I believe that the final illustrations developed from my initial concept successfully reflect the conditions required for the brief. If I were to do the project again I think I would research different styles of Roman art, such as Mosaic, which would allow me to use brighter colours, and may also allow better framing of my illustrations on the label. I would like to have compared a design based upon alternative styles to my current final design in order to see which gave the product a greater impact upon the market.