It’s mid 2019 and the third year of the Eden River Brew Co. Can Design Project...
When it comes to talent in Cumbria, the glass is definitely half full. And no more so than amongst the University of Cumbria’s Graphic Design students.
And as a Cumbrian business, we want to nurture and celebrate Cumbria’s students’ creativity!
Our aim with the annual Student Design Project is to give local graphic design students the chance to set their imaginations free on a real project. Each year we brew a range of modern craft beers, bursting with flavour, and invite Graphic Design students at the University of Cumbria to create the artwork for the limited-release 440ml cans.
We hope that by offering students hands-on experience of an exciting professional design project, it will encourage them to reach their creative limits with the satisfaction of seeing their product design in shops across the UK.
2019...
The brief was very loose this year. No specific product was identified in order that the designs were not inhibited by any ingredients or styles. We wanted to enable the students to be free with their imagination so that we may be able to select from a diverse range of artwork that befits the modern craft beer 440ml can scene.
We advised students to look at the current craft beer scene but to also think beyond the pale and experiment with implementing any idea that they felt would work within this sector. The aim wasn’t about trying to rebrand Eden River Brew Co (we’ve already done that!), or to try and squeeze our brand into a marketplace that didn’t fit with our modern craft beer products.
But what we did want was that the newly-designed cans would sit together as a limited-release collection of great modern beers. The most imaginative and vibrant designs generated will be featured on a range of cans to be sold through independent shops and the Westmorland Services group, as well as Key Kegs for draught beer.
And the (first) winner of 2019 is…
Such was the skill base of this year’s students that we couldn’t pick just one winner – in fact we have picked five!
The first set of beers to be released (soon!) will comprise….
- Brut IPA
- New England IPA
- Coffee IPA
- IPA Gose
…and will feature the incredible artwork of...
Tiegan Henderson
Tiegan’s work Elements, depicts the four natural elements, water, air, fire and earth, in Japanese-style graphics, incorporating stylised traditional Japanese woodblock prints and calligraphy artwork themes.
Next up…
In the near future, look out for news of our other special-edition beers featuring the winning work of students Tim and his Flow design featuring our logo, then Sam’s Zoo collages… along with Kinga's Montage, and John's Bar designs.