Watermark Labels is a Lodi, CA based winery and printing company. Our class designed wine labels meant for use on thank you gifts to their associates.

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Watermark Labels (Beige)

The theme of the beige label is “Sophistication”. Watermark Labels is up-to-date on printing technology, as you work daily with very new, large-scale presses. This idea of sophistication stems from working with modern machinery—there is a quality of attention to detail in the way that the purple foil would set around the thin lines of
the illustration.

 

When this wine is gifted to multi-million dollar companies, the emphasis doesn’t need to be on the label. The wine speaks for itself and for the people and the earth it comes from. With this understanding, I kept the design simple and to the point. Only 3 colors and a foil are used. Warmer, neutral colors are used to maintain that sense of dignity and simplicity without losing the human aspect of the company. Furthermore, I paired the delicate line drawings with the grace of Garamond, a serif font, on the back.

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Watermark Labels (Tan)

The theme of the tan label is “Relationships”. This label uses hand-drawn elements throughout—specifically in the grapes and the hand illustration. I chose to do this because of Watermark Labels’ attention to personal details, and appreciation for the illustrative aspect of the artistic community. There is a friendliness and humanistic quality associated with hand-drawn elements that are vital to the foundation of Watermark’s relationship with other businesses. The line quality is also reminiscent of a linocut print, which is a nod to Watermark’s printing presses, along with the use of a variety of color.

        

In our conversation with Andy, I gathered that Watermark is a place where customers are treated like family, so there is this warmth of community available there. That led to my decision to use warm colors and an image of a hand presenting an offering with the grapes. Andy used “spicy, jam, fruit, and pepper” to describe Old Vine Zinfandel, all words I associate with the reds and plums of this palette.

 

I extended this theme of relationships to the back with the use of Garamond, which grounds the letters with its serifs. This is symbolic of Watermark’s relationship with the Earth. The same background texture is also used in both front and back labels, as a nod to the historical buildings of Lodi.