Hasta La Ideas

Glasgow studio D8 has designed branding, packaging and signage for a new craft brewery opening in Glasgow today.

Housed in a former box factory in the city’s east end, Drygate describes itself as the UK’s first experiential craft brewery: the site includes a beer hall, shop, gallery space and outpost of Edinburgh gastropub Vintage and from June, visitors will be able to try brewing their own beer.

We first featured Drygate back in February, when D8 invited Glasgow School of Art alumni to design artwork for packaging. Fifteen designs were selected and displayed at a one-day exhibition in the city, and three have so far been used on bottles.

The initial range of beers includes Bearface Lager, with a label illustrated by Jack Bedford and Linda Sweenie:

Outaspace Apple Ale, with artwork by Patch Keyes and Good Press:

And Gladeye IPA, by Andrew Park:

Large-scale versions of Bedford, Sweenie and Park’s illustrations have also been applied to walls and equipment around the building. The remaining twelve designs will be used on future packaging and some are currently featured in the brewery’s gallery space.

D8’s David Shanks says the choice of artwork was based on “gut feeling and standout. Choosing something that would catch the eye on the shelf and try to bring something new to the crowd of craft beers already out there.”

Illustrations were inspired by flavours in the beer, and each beer’s name is based on the artwork on packaging. Keyes and Good Press’ illustration, for example, depicts funk and soul singer Billy Preston, who was the first signing to the Beatle’s Apple record label. “He’s also apparently the only other person to be name-credited on a Beatles record, bar the Fab Four that is, [and] the name came from one of his classic funk tracks Outaspace,” explains Shanks.

The brewery’s marque is inspired by the German/Nordic translation of Drygate, which mean’s ‘Priest’s path’:

And the structure fo the building itself. ‘The seven peaks of the Drygate building give it a strong aesthetic, hinting at its industrial past…Drygate wants to take people on a journey from the everyday to the exceptional, but being exceptional isn’t easy, so the path isn’t straight,’ says D8.

The rounded logotype includes a reference to the building, too, says Shanks: the crossbar of the ‘a’ is inspired by the apex of the roof of a walkway that leads to Drygate’s beer garden.

D8 has also designed a website for the brewery and worked closely with local studio Graven Images on interiors. “The client sought to reflect the grit and glamour of Glasgow, keep the unique industrial details of the space, which was previously a box factory, but still have warmth: somewhere you would want to stay, eat and drink,” says Shanks.

Images: Gordon Burniston

Drygate’s logo and signature zig zag appears on glasses and murals but the overall approach to branding inside is restrained. “There’s no need to over brand the interiors…Graven’s reflection appears subtly, as it should, in furniture details, such as angle stitching in the banquets, edges of tables, dual colour tile work, parquet flooring, [and] trusses between bespoke made beer benches,” says Shanks.

The choice of artwork used on bottles is diverse, but the custom type and Drygate marque give packaging a unified look that should stand out on the shelves against more established brands. Drygate says it will release new guest ales on a regular basis, and the first round is expected in early July.

For details, see drygate.com.