Banished Brewing opened their doors in Paradise, Newfoundland in 2022, and shortly before that, I was contacted by the team to develop an initial set of six labels for them, as well as an overall aesthetic that could be carried forward across the branding as they added more brews to their roster. From the outset, the team was set on something art-focused, that allowed room for creative experimentation, while still maintaining a cohesive look overall, and since that first series of six labels I've been responsible for developing the illustrative & visual art side of the brewery's output. The very first label concept - Space Puffin - helped establish the overall tone as one of wild colours, weird, trippy shapes, & even weirder ideas. 

 

What if we used a series of beer cans to tell a story about a fictional relative of the Newfoundland Puffin, which lives it's entire life in space? What if a beer can literally glowed in the dark with nostalgia for an alternate universe where an 80s electronic telephone-crush game was marketed to teenage monsters and skeletons? What if instead of label art, a beer can was simply wrapped with a confusing & Kafka-esque administrative application form for employment insurance, from a government agency you've never heard of? 

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The SPACE PUFFINS series (Space Puffin, Space Puffling, Interplanetary Puffin & Intergalactic Puffin) was awarded a Silver Medal in the Society of Illustrators 65 juried show (2022), in the Surface & Product Design Category.