I recently took a trip to a local wine shop to do a little research for a project I’m working on (sometimes “googling it” just doesn’t cut it). Among a few different forms of research I was conducting I wanted to get a feel for a small sampling of current wine labels and what they were doing in terms of design. I explained what I was doing, and the storekeepers were very friendly and helpful. Even though I was already stocked at home, I decided to buy a bottle as a token of thanks for letting me mull aimlessly around their shop. As I was checking out the cashier explained just how much they saw an impact in sales based on label design. I mean as a designer I should know it to be true, but it was still remarkable for some reason. They said the bottles with the more interesting labels sold a lot more than those with poor design. I guess if you need evidence that graphic design is a sound investment, you now have it.
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07.2.08
An Interesting Observation
2 Responses to “An Interesting Observation”
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I think this is a great observation. I definitely have bought many bottles of wine based just on the label. I have also found the same is true for generic products at grocery stores. Example: Publix generic canned food is much more appealing than Kroger’s.
In the food world, design serves as a reassurance that food is going to be good. In wine as in generic items, you truly have no idea whether an item is going to be good without trying it.
I will say though that a lot of wine labels I’ve seen recently have struck me as too juvenile, and unsophisticated. And despite what I know about wine(which is: I know nothing about a wine until I taste it) I still let that label put me off to something a little more mature. Wine is supposed to be an aged, traditional product, to see it in a “now” design with a euphemism or something just puts me off.
I’ve always thought that the people who design “ethnic” foods that Americans are supposed to think are “authentic” have the toughest job. If it really looked like a package does in Mexico or India, they wouldn’t touch it. It’s a really psychologically heavy task.