Former Visual Communication Arts A.S. student Alayna Baldwin is currently putting what she learned to work in order to build her own design business here in the greater Binghamton community. Posting on Facebook a beer label design that she created within Professor Groat’s ART 125: Introduction to Computer Graphics course has paid off. And it all started with learning how to chronicle her creative process and develop her business brand on WordPress at https://lanabeee.wordpress.com/

Read the conversation below between student and mentor, and see the beer label design that was discovered by a Brewery in Pennsylvania.

Alayna Baldwin

Professor Groat,

How are you doing? I wanted to let you know a little bit about what I have going on in my life right now! After posting a photo of my beer label on the Internet (Facebook), I was contacted by a brewery in PA. The owner has hired me to design 4 labels before the summer arrives, and another 10 after! I just think this opportunity is so amazing and mind blowing and I sincerely owe it all to you and your class! I was wondering if I would be able to contact you to look over my designs to critique. The brewery owner is not very design oriented and I just want to make sure I’m putting out good work that will represent me in the design world! I look forward to hearing from you and keeping you updated through my journey!

Professor Groat

Congrats Alayna! This is awesome news and a great example of networking through social media in order to build a successful design and illustration business.

Sure, I’d love to review all of your designs and offer feedback before you present them to the brewery.  Did this company discover your work on your actual FB page, or did you post your beer label concepts on other FB pages that were noticed?  I’m very curious.  As you know FB posts are not spidered by search engines and then archived within Google images.  Most of my own commission work stems from corporate collectors and designers discovering my work through Google images.

By the way, what are you charging them for each label design?

Regards,

Professor Groat

P.S. Keep in touch!

Alayna Baldwin

I had posted my design on my actual Facebook page and it received a lot of attention! The owner of the brewery was a Facebook friend of a mutual friend which is how they saw the post on their newsfeed. The first two labels are pretty simple designs, so he is paying me $300 each. The second two include more color and detail, which we decided will be $500 a label. We have not discussed any pricing after that because we are just focusing on the first four for now.

Professor Groat

I’m looking forward to seeing your beer label designs, and teaching you how to obtain commissions all around the world. I’d begin with developing a brand new WordPress blog that is dedicated to your business.

Alayna Baldwin

I will definitely do that!!! I only used WordPress for class and then I stopped but I will start a new one for my business. Thank you so much and I’m happy and blessed to have someone with such talent in my corner!

Beer label created by Alayna Baldwin

Beer label created by Alayna Baldwin

BEVERAGE LABEL ESSAY

Statement by Alayna Baldwin

The brand essence of Bad Dog Beer is to simply drink (responsibly) and have a great time doing it! It’s a Pale Ale that you can enjoy during a night out on the town feeling young and dangerous! The brand Identity that I created for Bad Dog Beer really shows the essence of the drink well. With my hand rendered image that I stylized as oil paint in Photoshop, my choice of Typography and colors, you cannot mistake this beer for a regular boring beer. The central image itself depicts an anthropomorphic dog/human smoking a cigarette with a spiked collar. What says “edgy” more than that? This helps relate to the beverage demographics because it has an artsy look and appears to serve the likings of the younger generations (ages 21-35). The two fonts that I paired in this design are a business like Trajan Pro and a hand written looking Trattatello. Both complement each other very well without the feel of clutter.  These also give emphasis to the brand essence. The mixture of the two fonts gives the design an edgy and artist, yet professional look.

I created emphasis by placing my central image over black and white, and by using red font colors within the design to create a popping look. I created contrast by placing white letters over black ground, and black letters over white background. I created flow by curving text around the central image which keeps your eye moving throughout the design. I aligned different contents of text with each other which wrap around the bottle. For example, the location of the brewing company is aligned with the company’s website address. I also centered text under the central image to make the design feel organized. Repetition can be found in the font, by using two different font styles. There’s also repetition in the background by alternating black and white rectangles. With the use of all of these elements, I really feel like my design is balanced and unified.

 

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