Hello everyone, for those of you who don’t know me I am Devin, and I am the Sales Marketing Manager at Baxter Brewing! This means I take care of all our in-house graphic design needs, and once in a while I get to be creative and design new can labels. I wanted to explain the process that we go through when it comes to releasing a new beer within our portfolio; Sometimes we have a clear idea of what we want, and sometimes it takes a few tries to get it just right.
What comes first, the label, the name, or the beer? The answer is, it’s pretty much different every time. And I will explain what process we take for each one of these steps. Once in a while, I get an idea for a cool label concept. For instance, I play disc golf a lot in my free time. We are lucky enough to be in such a gorgeous state with a lot of courses, which means I get some inspiration from the scenery when I am out playing, and some ideas from just having general conversations with friends and co-workers. Then I will design the label first, and depending on the theme of the design, we can come up with a creative name and a beer style that fits the label. This doesn’t happen often, but it’s always fun when it does!
What about when the beer name comes first? That might seem simple, but it can be the hardest part of the process sometimes. A few things we ask ourselves during this process are, does it feel authentic to our brand? Will the meaning translate to our consumers? If an employee has a great idea for a beer name, we try to take full advantage of it. As more breweries open in the state of Maine and all of them are equally as creative, it can be tough sometimes to find a name that already hasn’t been taken. So, when someone thinks of an awesome name, we try to utilize it. And sometimes, an idea for a beer name pops up in just having a normal conversation within the workspace; this happened with some of our biggest hits, like Next Level Maneuver and Cacao! The next step here would be to brew the beer and release it to The Pub. If it takes off, we put it into cans, and that’s where I come in and design a label. For instance, this recently happened with Next Level Maneuver, one of our cellarmen brought it up in a conversation at lunch, when someone found an exciting way to spice up their order, and they referred to it as a next level maneuver. With a team full of skiers, snowboarders, and all-around outdoor enthusiasts, we had to run with it. We used that name as a limited release at Sugarloaf for a fun event, with the label showcasing some truly next level maneuvers right on the label!
The last scenario is when the recipe comes first. In most cases this is usually what happens for us. Here at Baxter Brewing, we have an employee beer submission program; any time an employee has an idea of a beer style, and they think it would do well, they can submit their idea through an online form. From there, our quality/brewery operations team selects the beers that speak to the brand or styles we’ve never tried. It’s not always “can we brew this beer” but more often “how does this beer expand Baxter’s reach/experience?” This program has been deemed successful on multiple occasions for us at Baxter, with incredible brews like 13 Below, Sasquatch Red, and our new year-round Baxter Pale Ale. These are all examples of scenarios where the beer was so successful at our Pub, that we wanted all our fans to be able to try it! And I was fortunate to design the labels for 13 Below and Sasquatch Red. 13 Below was a Cold IPA and I was focusing on a winter’s night sky. Someone mentioned putting in the northern lights which was a perfect idea. So by adding that and our branded mountain range with some tree silhouettes, it all came together. And then when we got the label printed, we put it on a chrome/reflective material which made the northern lights just pop! And a very fun fact, that label was submitted for a label award this year.
Some labels are easier than others, especially when we know exactly what we are looking for, and some labels are far more challenging. However, the challenging ones are often the most satisfying ones to get across the finish line. When we don’t initially have a vision for a label and I find myself doing multiple versions, and when it all finally comes together, we can end up with a final product that none of us even envisioned from the start. Designing labels is by far my favorite part of this job; being able to walk into a Rooper’s, Damon’s, or Hannaford and see something on the shelf that I created never gets old. Seeing people’s reaction to the art that I am so passionate about is always rewarding.
— Devin Smith, Sales Marketing Manager
Check out a few more of our Devin-design labels below and keep an eye out for new ones to come!
