When it comes to wine I’m no sommelier, so often times the decision to buy is based on the label. I don’t find this to be apathetic or ignorant of me, it’s actually quite strategic. I have a lot going on in my life, I’d rather drink the wine and be happy than spend hours researching this or that. The fact of the matter is, if a company seeks out creative direction from an established design firm, they obviously care about the product they’re putting out. Miller LLC’s label for Shirah Wines is the right amount of clever and classy.
We designed these labels for Shirah Wines, a boutique winery in California that focuses on making fun and fruity wines with a lot of character (that also happen to be kosher). This wine is an assertive blend of syrah and grenache. The bottling was very small, with less than 650 bottles in the run. The design was influenced by vintage concert posters and the neckband is a replica of a vintage concert ticket. The fun thing about producing this label was working with our printer, Jon Selikoff of Vote for Letterpress. Due to the low budget on this job, we used a single plate to generate a range of color by printing with a split fountain. This is when 2 different inks are printed at the same time. You get the two colors at either extreme (in this case, orange and rhodamine red), which also gives you a 3rd color where they blend. The labels featured a nice spread of orange, red and hot pink - with variations in between. This is the closest you’ll get to a real, live gradient (no Photoshop here). The results were spectacular, with all the bottles being sold privately to collectors within a period of 3 months.
Maybe it’s just me, but I’m picking up soft, fruity tones of old lucha libre posters as well.
We learned that split fountain is a lot of fun and the unexpected results are what make it worth doing. It’s also important to use a good letterpress printer. Vote for Letterpress did a great job — Jon was terrific to work with and his skill made all the difference.

Former intern at UnderConsideration LLC.
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UnderConsideration is a graphic design enterprise that runs a network of blogs, publishes books, organizes live events and judged competitions, and designs for clients.
online
Brand New / Displaying opinions and focusing solely on corporate and brand identity work.
Art of the Menu / Cataloguing the underrated creativity of menus from around the world.
Quipsologies / Chronicling the most curious, creative, and notable projects, stories, and events of the graphic design industry on a daily basis.
Speak Up (2002 – 2009) / Discussing, and looking for, what is relevant in, and the relevance of, graphic design. Archives Only.
Word It (2003 – 2010) / Encouraging creative diversity in the community through monthly, one-word challenges. Archives Only.
Brand New Classroom (2010 – 2011) / Providing a space for critique and opinions on student identity workArchives Only.
graphic design
Department of Design / Designing corporate and brand identities and full development of printed and digital matter for clients.
publishing
The 2010 FPO Awards / 2011, self-published.
The 2010 Brand New Awards / 2011, self-published.
Flaunt: Designing effective, compelling and memorable portfolios of creative work / 2010, self-published.
Events & Judged Competitions
Brand New Conference / A one-day event on the development of corporate and brand identity projects by some of today’s most active and influential practitioners from around the world.
Brand New Awards / Celebrating the best identity work produced around the world.
FPO Awards / Celebrating the best print work from around the world.
Writing
Graphic Design, Referenced: A Visual Guide to the Language, Applications, and History of Graphic Design / 2009, Rockport.
Women of Design: Influence and Inspiration from the Original Trailblazers to the New Groundbreakers / 2008, HOW Books.
The Word It Book: Speak Up Presents a Gallery of Interpreted Words / 2007, HOW Books.
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