By Jo

I worked with Onfire Design in Auckland to create these typographic hand rendered, fresh, loose, informal and Untitled labels!

A bit of background…

Lee Winston, an Auckland based winemaker wanted to create a statement. While wines that are made in New Zealand are extremely good and highly regarded, they are very ‘samey’. Same standard varieties and blends. Even those claiming to be different are only doing so through their branding; the wine remains the same. Lee wanted to challenge this by creating unique wine blends with unique branding.

The wine itself is inspired by some of the true great winemakers from France. Lee reinterpreted the blending of various grapes, regions and vintages to create high quality, premium blends that did not adhere to standard varieties.

A ‘wine editor’ persona was developed for Lee. Similar to a film editor who creates a finished film from multiple shots, Lee creates these blends in a similar fashion with grapes. His ideas and musings are captured in a 'stream of conciousness' manifesto. Various parts of the manifesto influence each blend, these are physically joined up with tape to illustrate his hands-on process. Lavish foils, embosses, cap branding and other embellishments have been omitted to create a brash, loud statement against the uniformity of today's wine industry.

https://www.worldpackagingdesign.com/

My brief was to create hand rendered illustrations for the new ASHA Twinings tea brand packaging range. This tea is a premium “higher wellbeing” tea that is all about feeling that you are living life better. 

My hand drawn illustration style was chosen as it brings a level of care and craftmanship to the brand and creates an intriguing element of discovery.

Each flavour of tea is to have its own unique illustration that visualises a scene, inspired by nature, which includes the key ingredients and brings to life the sentiment of the product benefit in both composition and colour palette.

Overall the illustrations must cue that of a luxury brand, feel youthful and spark an emotional connection through a sense of lushness and asymmetry with layers of depth and detail.

https://twinings.com.au/asha/

When fashion and lifestyle magazine Marie-Claire declares ‘Move Over Aperol, The Rosé Spritz Is Going To Be The It-Drink Of Summer 2020’, you know you’ll be seeing this product at every pool party and garden picnic over the coming months.

I was engaged to craft the label for new brand ‘Rosie’, which may be the biggest entrant into this newly trending beverage segment. Rosie is a refreshing rosé spritz made from Provence-style rosé with a dash of sparkling water and a hint of Shiraz.

Using abstract botanical foliage and bold typography, my artwork was to take the consumer on a journey as it weaves its way through the wilderness, beautifully reflecting the brand’s concept of ‘The wild escape to the secret garden’.

The label uses gold flecks and sophisticated graphics to signal the product’s premium quality cues.

I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to explore lush, vibrant hues and botanical shapes using mixed mediums. I began by rendering all elements in black watercolour, before scanning and colouring the layered elements in Photoshop, painting into the art with photoshop brushes.

The graphics will be used across all packaging elements including bottle labels and cartons, as well as digital and print marketing materials.

This year, the Poppy Appeal is an unequivocal call to action, an appeal to Kiwis of all ages, genders and ethnicities, to step forward and show their support for the men and women of the New Zealand Defence Force. This campaign recognises the sacrifice that was made and is still being made today by our Defence Force. It puts the responsibility back on the public to thank them by visibly showing their support through donation and the wearing of a poppy. There is a call to action IT’S OUR TURN which is expressed showing people of all ages from New Zealand’s diverse population all wearing a poppy. This not only shows strength in numbers, but what it can mean when the actions of one, are multiplied. We have chosen to use a slightly quirky illustrative style which feels youthful and gives the campaign broader appeal particularly with younger people who may struggle to connect with more traditional poppy/ANZAC imagery. IT’S OUR TURN is an inclusive, yet powerful injunction which taps into this wider demographic. One of the aims of the campaign is not only to fundraise for the RSA but to also raise awareness of what the poppy stands for, and what the RSA does to support servicemen and women, both past and present. For some Kiwis, the RSA means a place where one can get a cheap meal and drink. For others, it’s a refuge for heroes who fought for us in wars long since over. The Poppy Appeal has become synonymous with those men and women who served back then, and the ANZAC day memorials. A symbol of remembrance in honour of their service. We absolutely recognise the importance of this remembrance, but there is a real opportunity to make the poppy more relevant to a wider audience. One of the ways we will do this is to also tell the stories of those who have served and continue to serve in times of disasters like the White Island Eruption and Australian bushfires. These stories will demonstrate that it is also people like these that the RSA helps and supports. As well as veterans and current NZDF members who serve/d in areas of conflict. We need to let people know what the poppy means not just in terms of remembrance, but as an ongoing symbol of support for those men and women who continue to be heroes today and will be tomorrow.

Commissioned by Fluid Design, I was tasked with creating illustrations for Black Swan’s new range of premium dips. Fluid’s design team aimed to boost appetite appeal by leveraging Black Swan’s distinctive brand assets and spotlighting key ingredients, all while maintaining a premium feel.

My illustrations to bring the key ingredients of each SKU to life through a textured, woodcut-style screen print technique, incorporating hand-made elements. Paired with a soft tertiary color palette, these illustrations impart an artisan quality to the range. The design, anchored by the distinct black circle, ensures strong shelf presence and easy brand recognition across the lineup.

These illustrations do more than just add visual interest—they’re central to the brand’s refreshed, distinctive look. The new packaging has already outperformed its predecessor in key tests, capturing attention within the critical first few seconds and boosting brand recognition.

“The Natural marriage between Carte D’Or and dessert has been unbreakable since 1978, when the first delicious scoop was devoured. These new flavours are an elevated ice cream experience inspired by the brands French Heritage. We worked with the brand team to develop packaging design that appeal to both foodies and ice cream lover, heroing and focusing on the delicious patisserie flavours and delivering an unforgettable indulgent moment”.

https://worldbranddesign.com/1hq-singapore-designs-new-premium-carte-dor-ice-cream-range-for-sea-market/

Lindauer’s Vintage Series is a collection made for life’s special moments.

This captivating Brut Cuvée was created by New Zealand’s most awarded sparkling wine maker, Jane De Witt. Needless to say, this sophisticated blend needed an equally sophisticated packaging design to celebrate the product’s quality.

Briefed to create illustrations for the bottle’s shrink sleeve by Curious Design, I crafted simple abstract shapes and contrasting textures. The end result is an elegant label that embodies the fresh, uplifting mood of summery days – and a perfect reflection of the wine’s delicate aromas of citrus sorbet and white flowers.

I brushed the graphics traditionally and enjoyed stretching my artistic style. The artwork is designed to evoke thoughts of a celebration, but to equally suggest a relaxing moment chilling out in the sunshine.

My brief was to develop a series of hand crafted illustrations for Cole's range of Premium Antipasti products. The objective was to create a strong sense of Deli across the range while giving it high impact on the shelf.

Using watercolour and inks i created the illustrations traditionally to create a painterly finish with a bold vibrant feel.

Book cover illustrations for Hartmans Nursing Assistant Care Series.

My brief was to create illustrations for three of Green's New Zealand's Honora Honey ranges looking to appeal to the growing Asian Market and offering broad expression. Using native New Zealand flora, the client wanted a fresh, expressive and slightly naive watercolour style.

The three ranges - Infusions, Organic and Non-Organic was an evocative starting point and served as inspiration to create an elegant and sophisticated look for the brand  using traditional watercolour  in both colour and greyscale across the ranges.

Cover illustrations for a Tor Books Series of Novels about the adventures of a black cat called Midnight Louis, written by Carole Nelson Douglas.

Pump, New Zealand's number one selling bottled water wanted a new brand journey focused around the idea that when you drink Pump things just flow better. Your mind is clear, you're on. 

My brief was to create a series of illustrations that were simple but active, with a sense of movement and playfulness using just the iconic shape of the bottle. Each was to show the 'flow' of the Pump bottle moving and leaving a visible trail.

The style to be be simple, hand drawn/cut out using silhouettes, transparency and overlays incorporating the Pump logo and drips and splashes.

My brief was to revitalise the Burgen brand across both the standard and the Gluten Free ranges to make it look more dynamic and more relevant to customers. More than 30 years on, Kiwis have really embraced the taste so Burgen decided that the new look packaging needed to reflect and evoke the "Kiwiness" and vitality of the brand more.

The new illustrations were to incorporate bold, vibrant colours and graphics of Pohutakawas, Tuis, Fantails, ferns and other iconic New Zealand imagery including the many varied grains and seeds comprising the Burgen ingredients.

My brief was to create two large wall murals for the ticketing area down inside the base of the Sky Tower that incorporated hand rendered icons and text together in an informal, dynamic way for visitors waiting to purchase their tickets. The client saw this as a great opportunity to break away from anything too structured and have some fun with big illustrative graphics to create artwork that was quite striking to look at and also interesting and informative.

Research had shown that the well-known ice block range Popsicle had lost its 'cool' factor with the youth market, so to refresh the brand and reconnect with the target market the packaging brief was to be redesigned across the range.

The new Popsicle brand personality was to be somewhat cool yet inclusive and the illustrations were to reflect positive energy and be fun, uplifting and relevant to kids.

The colours and content of the illustrations correlate with the relevant Popsicle product and its name. For example Traffic Lights features imagery based around cars and lights and is illustrated in red, orange and green hues - also the colours of the product itself.

A fun, inspiring and wonderfully creative project to work on!

A series of advertisements for Vodafone Ireland pitching their latest plans.

The predominantly typographic approach was to be informal, fun, naive, loosely hand rendered, friendly and incorporating supportive cameo illustrations throughout.

Sierra Coffee wanted to re-brand and bring a new fresh clean feel to their packaging range which incorporated hand rendered type and character illustrations.

The expressions and personalities of the characters were to reflect the names of the styles of coffee and to be rendered in a loose, continuous, sophisticated but yet naive linear style.

My brief was to create light, flowing, feminine typographic imagery to mould and form the shapes of the Bendon lingerie.

The style to be effortless and loose but at the same time in a slightly controlled brush manner which followed the contours of the body form as a lace pattern would do.

Singapore Airlines was struggling to capture the hearts and minds of young New Zealanders due to its premium, international positioning. The brand approached us to reposition Singapore Airlines for this market with the launch of a Facebook competition. It would be realised in the form of a story and told visually as the adventures unfolded.

The brief was to develop a series of five illustrations focusing on South-East Asia that could drive relevant online conversations amongst the younger demographic helping to localise the brand. The idea was that the illustrations should appear like real diary or sketchbook entries, hence the hand rendered technique used.

The intrigue surrounding the ancient and cultural stories of South-East Asia anchored the competition. Entrants were invited to share their ultimate Asian story on Facebook, vote for their favourite activities and tag their friends and family with whom they wanted to travel. As the story grew, the illustrations reflected the adventures visually.

Excitement and awareness of the campaign were driven through social media posts and on the Singapore Airlines Facebook page. Following participation of 4,874 individuals and 8,300+ votes over a four-week period, Singapore Airlines experienced an increase in travel bookings and measured increased brand awareness over the period amongst its targeted local audience.

A safety Campaign for Road Safety Trust New Zealand based around the holistic concept of Safe driving on our roads. 

"Distracted brains drive dangerously. Stay focused"

My brief was to encompass consuming, which leads to self distraction, including eating, drinking, using a mirror - all aspects.

The style of illustration to be colourful, bold, eye catching, interesting and engaging therefore requiring the viewer to spend some time looking at the various components -  and in a hand rendered, loose style.

My brief from Hubbards was to create fun hand rendered typographic, colourful, informal, bold imagery for their flavours in the new Hubbards Creamy Porridge range.

The range was to stand out on the shelf and capture attention while visually connecting to the existing Hubbards range which has a quirky, down to earth look and feel.

This range was fun to work on!

Essentially a project i chose to work on for myself to explore a different medium and way of working.

I enjoy the four rhymes and decided to work them in a mixed media style in a fun way - type and imagery both.

Soft drink done differently! 

The new Schweppes ALT drinks are based on a healthier version to the usual options (lower sugar and natural flavours).

My brief was to illustrate the label patterns using watercolour that utilised bright, vibrant colours and loosely composed shapes to convey a feeling of freedom, movement and vitality. 

Rendered by hand this was a great creative project to work on.