Design of the Week: Vizir Winery Customer Blog

Many of us at 99designs are wine enthusiasts – but experts? Hardly. So when browsing the wine section at the local liquor store, we pay less attention to vintage and varietals and far more attention to the labels.

Are they quirky? Sophisticated? Fun? Do they promise fabulous sipping experiences? With so many bottles to choose from, it’s difficult for any one to stand out and even tougher for it to make the leap into our hands and, ultimately, our shopping baskets. So when wine-related companies launch contests on 99designs, we’re always eager to see what kind of designs they choose. Would we want to pour a glass?

When it comes to the labels Slovenia-based winery Vizir chose in a recent label design contest, the answer is a resounding yes. The contest holder clearly outlined what he was looking for in his quest for three wine labels – something “elegant” and “recognizable”- and explained that the company’s history is associated with horses so, if possible, the concept of horses should be incorporated into the design. His brief strictly detailed the text and layout and included images of the company’s logo, but offered little direction on graphic elements, giving designers creative free reign (pun intended!).

Label design by gjeric

Winning designer gjeric successfully implemented the horse theme in the shape of the labels, which echo the company’s logo and are scaled to complement the size and shape of the bottles. The light lines used to outline the horses could come off as too simplistic in other applications, but because they are clear and defined, they frame the name of the company and each varietal and draw attention inward. The shape of the horse follows Vizir’s logo – again, simple, but this allows us to easily make the association between “horse” and “wine” which equal “Vizir.”

The contest holder decided that the name of the company would not be the biggest text element on the bottle, a confident move that indicates the branding will be built not around the winery name and logo but rather around the horse motif and the variety of grapes.

Finally, an unexpected and delightful design element is the horse head on the wine foil – it’s memorable and knightly. Ask a friend to open a bottle of Vizir wine at a dinner party, and this unique little bonus is likely to spark conversation.

To give you some further food for thought, here are two submissions the contest holder rated highly.

The labels below feature quite a compelling use of negative space, with the horse drastically silhouetted (and almost unrecognizable as a horse at first glance). The bottles convey a deep, moody and expensive feel.

Label design by Despect

The bright, playful labels in this second example, leave no doubt in the buyer’s mind that horses are a major element of the Vizir brand.

Label design by Big_fam

What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments section!

Illona is a Community Team member and a liaison to the Indonesian community at 99designs. She is originally from Los Angeles, CA and graduated from UC Santa Cruz. You can often find her hanging out with her Australian Shepherd, Lilah, or in the kitchen testing out new dessert recipes.