before
after
Reviewed Apr. 18, 2017 by Armin
Industry / Consumer products
Established in 2009, Stanley Park Brewing is a craft brewery in Vancouver, Canada. It’s a revival of a brewery with a legacy that dates back to 1897 — I couldn’t figure out the date it closed — when it was founded by a Belgian brewmaster near the shore of the Lost Lagoon within the park that the brewery is named after, Stanley Park — a gorgeous 1,001-acre public park. This month, Stanley Park Brewing introduced a new identity designed by local firm Will.
Knowing that the brewery, and the team behind it, looks to the Park for inspiration, it was a natural fit to bring the brand closer to the Park as well. Just like nature, the new look is simple and approachable at a glance, yet rich with substance upon a closer look. It features illustrated park scenes in a restrained palette, a logo mark inspired by the shape of the park, and a typeface whose natural, stick-inspired letterforms are derived from a historical Stanley Park sign.
Will provided text
The old logo featured a depiction of the statues found at one of the ends of the Lions Gate Bridge that leads into Stanley Park. It was a nice engraving and the full badge was convincingly done. The new logo is a major aesthetic departure, going from the more classic regal/seal look of before to an outdoorsy/lumberjack-y aesthetic. The change is so drastic I had to triple-check this was the same brewery and not two different ones that happened to be named the same.
I like public parks and hiking and stuff, so I very much like the park-inspired wood-carved typography and minimal tree illustrations but I wonder if that’s set to alienate some of the audience? Without knowing how popular this beer is among locals it’s all speculation but I do think it now speaks to a VERY specific audience — no flannel, no beer for you — as opposed to the old logo (and packaging) that was kind of general/generic. Still, I dig the new logo and it stands out much more than the old one, even though that one had a thousand more vector points calling for attention.
The old packaging was also pretty solid and the round seal logo was a nicely implemented component in the bottle and 6-packs. (The previous logo and packaging were designed by New York, NY-based Beardwood&Co.) The new packaging takes on a much lighter, airier, more flowing illustration style that evokes mid-century travel posters, each in lovely monotone palettes and complemented by script typography on the names. The illustrations are beautiful and the integration with the logo in the bottle, 6-pack, and can is very well achieved.
With such a strong visual departure, the new look had to be confident enough to convince existing clients to follow them in this new direction and unless anyone hates the woods, this is a fantastic direction that separates this beer from the traditional beer look (but, granted, places them closer with the craft, hipper-than-Bud beer look).
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