Before & After: Ocho Tequila

Love the simple yet bold look. This is actually the "before", designed by John Higley Design. Although it has been redesigned to look more "premium", I quite prefer the before. Check out the new design after the jump, and share in the comments which one you like best.

Comments

[Jon]

The new design doesn't look particularly premium. If anything it's just rather boring, unappealing and forgettable. Even if the previous identity hadn't built any recognition factor yet, I still think it was wrong to discard that big 8. It could have been developed, elaborated, gilded, etc. into a strong brand mark.

Someone at John Higley Design should get some 3D skills so they can present their clients with more convincing mockups.

[Maru]

the after actually look older than the before!i really prefered the before so much modernand it actually looks like tequila!

[Samantha]

I also wish they could've incorporated some sort of bold 8 on the front of the bottle when they added the "premium" looking text on the back. Seems like they missed an opportunity to maintain their visible shelf presence while transitioning the packaging presentation to that of a more artisinal-seeming product. Really love the new cork, though.

[Andrew Gibbs]

I dont think John Higley Design did the new packaging, just the old.

[Robyn Durst]

What bothers me the most is that they didn't even TRY to make the label look like it's actually on the bottle. Ugh.

[Jon]

Sorry about my stupid assumption and my apologies to John Higley Design. I expect their packaging mockups are much more realistic than those shown above :) However, I couldn't be bothered to trawl through their tediously linear portfolio to find out :/

NOTE TO THE DIELINE WEB DEVS...For some reason I'm no longer presented the option to reply to someone's specific comment in the way Andrew replied to mine. I use both PC IE v7 and PC Firefox v2 browsers. I probably need to upgrade.

[roomjosh]

Does anyone have my back here on this one...MOST OVER USED TYPE FAMILY IN ALC/WINE/BEER:P22 Cezanne

And this is just my opinion but I really believe 3D-rendered mock-ups being featured on this blog is pure BS.. it's a way for non-print and non-packing designers to feel good about mediocre design. Real bottle shots are necessary(!) and if your design doesn't stand-up to real word scenarios then you didn't do your job. The ONLY time 3d-mock-ups should be used is during design process. Once your done and have gone to print-- delete your files-- you can't hide behind generated pixels forever.

[Edward Pearson]

What does premium mean? That it has to have the same layout, type colour etc. that other so called premium products have? can't premium be reinvented? Before is highly superior because it looks REAL, the new one looks like hundreds of other labels.Client rules?

[Yael Miller]

there must be a story behind this. what a forceful change of direction. they even dropped the number '8' from their entire design/branding.

are they trying to look older, like they've been around forever? it's hard to go reverse on this type of thing.

[Pauline]

I'm definitely loving the 'before' as well. Somehow, even without its stamps and signatures, it looks a lot more authentic than the 'premium' version. The only thing I can think of as a problem with the original is that any text on the back probably would have shown through to the front and might have made it confusing to read.. (maybe ??) But a problem like that wouldn't call for such a massive change in direction as this.

The bolder, stronger original seems like it would have had a lot more shelf presence.

[roomjosh]

A couple things to keep in mind here:

The client didn't in a blink of an eye decide to change the package because it was a success. The design, albeit better than the "after", isn't something to be excited about. It's somewhat clean design... but does it look like a nice tequila that you want to throw down cash for? not really. Does the design Re-define what tequila should look like? not at all. The 'before' is passable but by no means ground breaking. Sales probably sucked-- and they needed a new and more 'authentic' look.

The other thing to keep in mind, which is likely the reason they lost the '8' is because of a winery called "Cellar 8"http://www.cellarno8.com/img/cellar_no_8_wine_bottles.jpgThey might have gotten a cease and desist letter and rather than fighting it, just designed a new package with no '8.'

[John Higley]

Just to clarify a few things. I'm John Higley and I did the first design. I had nothing to do with the second.

A few years ago a guy came to me who owns several Mexican restaurants in Europe. He wanted to bottle his own tequila. He asked me to design a bottle for a family-owned, hand-crafted Mexican tequila. He said he wanted it to look bold, timeless and without pretense... and have it represent the vitality of Mexico. It was to be sold only in Europe and marketed directly to restaurants and bartenders who prefer a slender bottle for easy storing and pouring. It still is selling very well in Europe with the original bottle design.

Somehow this guy got connected with some of the Jack Daniel's people who wanted to market it in the US. Evidently he was convinced it needed to be redesigned and cost more money for the American market.

One other thing, regarding a comment on my website portfolio – it appears linear and tedious, I know, but there is thumbnail icon for navigation (top left). I know it's not the greatest, and I'd like to redesign it, but I'm only one guy and time often gets the best of me.

[Jeanne]

Agree, P22 Cezanne is overused (like it & the foundry, but overused). There's plenty of other handwritten fonts available.And yes, real packaging looks different & clients should realize.

[John Higley]

One thing I forgot to mention in the previous post, the first design, my design, was featured in Communication Arts 2008 Design Annual. Apparently my peers liked it!

Thanks to all of you who posted. It was very interesting.

[Jon]

John, I'm sorry about casually slagging off your website. I didn't spot the thumbnail icon on the portfolio page. That's quite a nifty nav menu that pops up. And you've got some real nice work on there.

I can hardly be critical of your site. I know what it's like working for yourself. I've still not got round to building my website yet and just have a flickr page with a few personal projects on. Lame I know.

[Juanel]

@ John Higley:

I am NOT big on tequila any more since I overdid it badly on my 21st... but your first design would make me wanna pick that bottle up! Really love the old design - hate the new...

[Susan in FL]

Do NOT like the newer design....I loved displaying my different year bottles of Ocho like bottles of fine wine...now there is nothing distinctive with the new design - looks like any other liquor in my cabinet. I do like the bold 8, however would loved to have kept the old label and incorporated a more visible 8 onto it somehow instead.