FDBusiness.com

ABSOLUT Vodka together with The Brand Union have redesigned its entire range of flavored vodkas. As one of the most dramatic changes the brand has ever made, somewhat resembling the designs of ABSOLUT Unique, the goal of this bold redesign was to give consumers distinctive designs that are unlike anything we have ever seen.

Driven by the standard thought that a fruit flavored product should carry a picture of a fruit on its packaging, ABSOLUT wanted to contradict the norms and show the energy behind the fruit instead of the fruit itself. As Anna Kamjou, Global Design Director at ABSOLUT commented that they wanted to break that convention: “We asked our design team to reach into the symbolism and myths tied to the ingredients to find each flavor’s core essence — and then amplify that essence through art.”

After interpreting each flavour’s core essence, the designers worked to bring these notions alive artistically. They followed a long tradition of Swedish design and craftsmanship, and brought a ‘by-hand’ aesthetic to the project. That is to say, they stepped away from their computers, took up paper, pens and brushes, and set out to communicate not a flavour per se, but the energy behind each flavour. With Absolut Apeach, for example, soft pastels and a light hand-drawn gesture were used to capture the fruit’s evanescent, sweet fragility and convey a sense of romance. The design for Absolut Pears began with the fruit’s symbolic association with longevity and purity, and arrived at an abstract pear shape resembling the symbol for eternity. For Absolut Raspberri, the emotion of love and passion is intensified through the abstract expressionist technique of throwing paint. The same artistic process was repeated across the range.