Abandoned Brewery
Abandoned Brewery
An abandoned dream left for dead in a place joy forgot. Among the cobwebs and grime of an old factory in suburban New Zealand laid the remnants of a failed brewery. An unfortunate experiment brought back to life, but this time done right, a true micro-brewery with a never-say-die attitude.
Disrupting the system
The craft beer market has exploded. But newcomers struggle and often fall into the cliches; generic typography or hipster-esque illustrations'. So how do you stand out and have your own voice? What does a unique brand with depth, relevance, authenticity and the ability to disrupt the landscape look like? Discerning craft beer drinkers would ultimately judge the product itself, but making an award-winning beverage was easy compared to the real challenge of cutting through the noise. Shelf presence was key to establishing Abandoned as a savvy new brand wanting to win over the hearts and minds of customers.
Unashamed irreverence
Abandoned Brewery reclaims an authentic story of failure and forgotten spaces with an uncompromising brand for outsiders fuelled with the energy of self-belief. There is no logo. Instead, we have the Abandoned name. We unashamedly appropriated the anarchy symbol and applied it to this – it embraces the same raw and irreverent attitude of the brewery. It’s the anti-brand of craft beer brands. The identity has no fixed set of graphic elements; instead, a distinctive visual language reflects the brand’s ethos. Everything from the sparse colour palette to the explicit use of hand-drawn typography makes the Abandoned brand stand out.
In a cluttered and fast emerging market, the Abandoned brand delivered exactly what I wanted from design. It established itself in a completely new territory and easily led to generate a distinct voice and marketing strategy.
Tim Ward, Founder, Abandoned Brewery
Revolution on the rise
Forming a unique identity, Abandoned Brewery has differentiated itself from the competitors and has built a staunch and dedicated following since launch. The flexibility of the brand has enabled the product's growth and enabled successful integration into signage, in-store display, vehicles and promotions while remaining true to its origins. Since busting into the market, Abandoned has collected several awards from the Brewers Guild and piqued the interest of distributors and retail chains. Recently, the brand won a Good Design Australia award for communication branding and identity. By not sticking to the rule book, this brand has proven itself to be versatile and adaptable, disrupting everything from supermarket aisles to craft beer festivals, and now design awards.
When my local supermarket started stocking it the cans jumped off the shelf amongst the other cans. The anarchy symbol pops!
Customer, via Facebook