In the Mind of Our Designer
Have you ever wondered what goes into designing a visual identity for a beer brand? Our Head of Design Clara Pinholt here explains how she came up with the design for ÅBEN and what kind of transition phase ÅBEN currently finds itself in.
The visual identity of the ÅBEN brand was developed by our talented designer Clara, who is still an integral part of the ÅBEN team. The name and design originates from the vision of being open, symbolising the openness Philip as a founder experienced as a new brewery in the industry - a key mindset which ÅBEN lives by daily. Together with other values set by Philip, this was fundamental for the process Clara went through when establishing the identity.
“It was crucial for us that the brand expressed our core values which from the beginning was this unique openness, while including an innovative touch and sense of quality. In technical terms you call this the visual idiom. And for me it became essential to do something drastically different with the beer label, to ensure we would stand out from the rest”, Clara explains.
This was how the idea of using the back of the label as the front originated, which left a free space exposing the content of the bottle.
“It all came together very naturally. The free space so clearly represented this openness we wanted to express. And by adding our logo - the capital letter Å - it all added up. If you look at our logo, it symbolises a human being. And with an ambition to run an experience-led brewery it fitted our overall narrative that humans are at the centre of everything that we do. It became this holistic story while using a very simple symbol of space”.
A Visual Transition
With the transition to cans, a natural rethink of the design has been necessary.
“It is definitely challenging from a design perspective to move away from something you think works so well. However, I do believe it is the right time for ÅBEN to rethink our visual brand and how we represent our values. I am confident that we will succeed with this on our cans as well, and I find it as a natural extension of the direction the brand is going in now.”
In the beginning of 2022, ÅBEN is set to open a combined brewery, bar and brasserie in Copenhagen’s Meatpacking District. This will enable us to increase production facilities significantly in order for us to meet increasing demands.
“With a shift from being this smaller, local Kolding brewery we are now phasing a new epoch in our growth journey. From a design viewpoint, the bottles excellently represented the local brewery in Kolding in the same way that cans better represent what we aim to achieve with our new space in Copenhagen. It is still the same product, and the same values we work by, but our identity evolves as the brand embraces more locations. Just as we turned things upside down with our label, it is crucial for us to keep renewing.”