Electric Bear and the art of can design
This week, DeskBeers have been sending out a selection of beers from Electric Bear. As well as being supremely crushable, Electric Bear’s brews are some of the best looking in the business. We got in touch with the people responsible…
Based in the Bear Flat area of Bath, Electric Bear brew craft beer which is unashamedly happy. They themselves describe their brews as “great, innovative, delicious, modern beer that delivers on that ‘glad to be alive’ vibe.” If you’ve ever tried it, you’ll know what they mean. The flavours are bright and balanced, the hops are prominent in the mix, and the overall effect is juicy, refreshing and even invigorating.
However, there is another crucial factor for conveying this joie de vivre: Electric Bear’s cans are guaranteed to raise a smile. There’s a kind of unapologetic enthusiasm about them — a wild diversity of content held together by a canny (ahem) stylistic consistency.
We’ve mentioned Electric Bear before, in our feature about the awesomeness of canned beer, and wanted to know a little more about the process behind these designs. The brewery put us through to their artists, Kingdom & Sparrow, who are a branding agency specialising in food and drink — working with clients internationally to help them launch, grow and fulfill their potential. They were more than happy to talk to us about working with Electric Bear…
DESKBEERS: How did you arrive at the signature style for Electric Bear — that kind of larger-than-life, cartoon style, which is also very detailed where it needs to be? Did the guys at Electric Bear have that template in mind, or did it emerge organically?
KINGDOM & SPARROW: We went through a few options with Electric Bear initially, to really understand what they felt a connection with. The cartoon style opened up a lot of possibilities to tell stories and create alter egos, and it reflected the energy and fun they have making beer.
DB: Can you outline the can design process for a particular beer? Is it done in consultation with the brewery, and does the flavour of a specific beer impact upon the final design?
K&S: Electric Bear are always bringing out wild new beers, so we have the design process pretty locked down by now. They come to us with a name and a ‘scene’ or idea that represents their beer and we interpret that for them.
DB: Kingdom & Sparrow have also done bottle designs for beers, wines and spirits. Have you found any significant differences (aesthetic or otherwise) between label design for cans vs bottles?
K&S: Designing for a can works really well for craft beverages, because you get to tell the story of the product in 360 degrees. So it becomes more of an experience for the customer. People want to pick up the can and interact with it.
DB: Do you think that the non-traditional designs celebrated by craft breweries have a role to play in attracting customers who perhaps wouldn’t consider themselves beer drinkers in the more traditional sense?
K&S: The way craft products have innovated and been bold with design has definitely attracted a new generation to beer drinking. The variety on offer, combined with the variety of visual worlds, means there is a beer for everyone, even people who traditionally don’t like beer.
Kingdom & Sparrow really articulate the special creative opportunities offered by cans, and they and Electric Bear have exploited these to perfection with a comic book-influenced, storytelling style which works optimally on the 360-degree surface of a can (the can-vas, am I right? Hello?). It’s also a style which perfectly previews not only the bold, bright flavours of the beer itself, but the obvious care and craft which Electric Bear invest in each new brew.
Like the sound of Electric Bear and fancy trying their beers? Sign up to DeskBeers today, and they might just feature in your first box!
Thanks again to Kingdom & Sparrow for taking time out to answer our questions — and of course to everyone at Electric Bear for their fantastic brewing.
