Bullet For My Valentine
Illustrated label design for U.K metal band Bullet For My Valentine and their first alcoholic beverage 'Waking The Demon' honey mead.
(Band logo supplied by BFMV management)
Client: Bullet For My Valentine, Global, Raw Power Management.
Role: Packaging designer/illustrator.
Software used: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Dimension.
01
The Brief
Brief & My Proposal
The brief was to create an illustrated beverage label for U.K heavy metal band Bullet For My Valentine.
The beverage of choice was mead, an alcoholic wine created by fermenting honey with water. Therefore the band wanted the honey element to be an obvious feature on the label. In Norse mythology, mead is referred to as ‘Mead of Poetry' and is a mythical beverage that whoever drinks it becomes a poet or a scholar - quite apt as Bullet For My Valentine are very talented musicians. The heavy metal band are known for their dark album artworks, depicting skulls, snakes and death. We wanted to stay on the dark side with this design in the hope that fans of the band would instantly connect with it.
Using the mead's name ‘Waking The Demon' as inspiration I came up with the idea of a demon skull, made from honeycomb and oozing golden nectar from every comb whilst bees swarm around it. The band were instantly on board with the idea and then the journey began to bring this demon to life…
02
Branding
Colour palette & typography
Medallion
HEX: C28E2E
RGB: 194, 142, 46
manuka
HEX: FFC428
RGB: 255, 196, 40
Dusk
HEX: 232020
RGB: 35, 32, 32
Trajan Pro (Bold) Supplied by BFMV
Oswald (Light)
Georgia (Italic)
03
The Design
From initial sketch to finished render
I started the design process off with moodboards back and forth consisting of colours & styles. I wanted to use a limited colour palette to give an understated yet luxurious feel to the design.
Once my thumbnail sketch had been approved I used my Wacom Cintiq tablet to create the finished illustration. Bullet For My Valentine wanted the mead name 'Waking The Demon' to take precedence over the band logo as the title itself is synonymous with the band's music and that in itself would sell the beverage.
04
3D Visuals
3D Visuals in Adobe Dimension
Sometimes clients have a hard time visualizing how a design would look on the finished product. So I used Adobe Dimension to create a 3D mock up of how the label would look on the mead bottle.
"This mead is sweet and moreish with deep honey flavours."
05
The Outcome
The Outcome
Once the digital design was signed off it was time to think about the physical printing of the label. I suggested the idea of having some parts of the label to be printed with a gold foil effect, which against the matt black, turned out gorgeous. When the gold foil shimmers in the light it adds a luxurious, regal finish - fit for heavy metal gods.
Once the final print proofs had been checked and signed off the mead was then made, fermented and bottled by the award-winning winery Lyme Bay in Devon.
The mead was then launched on Bullet For My Valentine's online store, as well as Lyme Bay's website and was greeted with great anticipation and interest - so much so they are hoping to make the beverage available worldwide in the near future.
Order yours from the BFMV website here.
Bottoms up!
