SB1 : Creative Pool Absolut Brief : Research

https://creativepool.com/studio/crowd/brief/create-an-artwork-within-the-absolut-bottle-silhouette-or-logo-1/

The Brief

Create an artwork within the Absolut bottle silhouette or logo. 

Format

Portrait format: full bottle silhouette.

Square format: cropped bottle silhouette.
Landscape format: logo

Considerations and Specification

Work within the bottle silhouette and logo. Do not change the shape of the bottle silhouette or logo

Use colours or hues of the colours in the brand colour palette. Do not use red.

For moving media: Ensure that the bottle silhouette and logo is visible in its true shape a sufficient amount of times to ensure brand recognition.

Background 

Absolut is Bold, Creative, Witty and Inviting. 

Bold - Absolut are daring and push boundaries. They state their point of view with confidence, but never arrogance. They are for, not against.

Creative - Absolut have a spark inside them and that creative energy is mind opening. They like edgy and express themselves through contemporary culture. 

Witty - Absolut combine fun with a clever twist and rule at brilliant wordplay. They make people smile by making people think.

Inviting - Absolut welcome everyone. They think all humans are equal and should be free to express themselves their own way. They enjoy collaborating and greeting you into their world.

Brand Research

• Absolut Vodka was first launched in New York in 1979.
• But the recipe behind the pure and natural taste of Absolut is actually older than 30 years.
• So is the 18th century medicine flask found in an antique store in Stockholm that gave inspiration to the iconic Absolut Vodka bottle.

This research and  Absolut's strong brand link into history sparked the idea of the design referencing Absolut's beginning or a historical event close to home such as Titanic or Absolut's reference to the 18th century in some way incorporating the heritage of 30 years?

Further research refined the idea of redesigning the packaging themed by Belfast’s Titanic history. Therefore further research went into the building of Titanic and Titanic Quarter which now exists.

Building the Titanic
As the largest moveable man-man object of its day, Titanic construction took a little over two years to complete, involving thousands of men and a cost equivalent to over one hundred million in modern day terms. Built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, alongside sister ship Olympic, building Titanic did not go without problems. Read on to discover fascinating facts and figures about the build.

"It took just over three years to build and fit out the RMS Titanic, and it took the ship less than three hours to sink beneath the North Atlantic Ocean on April 14-15, 1912. Well before, the White Star Line's "unsinkable" ship set sail on its first and only voyage and launched countless stories, however, high stakes and grand plans went into its design and construction.

The Titanic's preceding events leading up to its unfortunate demise will hold audience's interest because of the historical nature and entertaining qualities. Our website provides a plethora of information to help audiences learn about the Titanic's construction and all aspects of its history. The entertaining and informative features will ignite your senses and help you embark upon the momentous journey of the Titanic.

While Harland & Wolff claimed that it never advertised the Titanic as unsinkable, a White Star Line brochure indeed said that the Titanic was designed not to sink. The media of the day, of course, seized on this idea of an unsinkable ship.

The primary design concept meant to make the Titanic unsinkable was a series of sixteen compartments separated by watertight bulkheads in the lower portion of the ship. Rather than, force passengers to use stairs to move between compartments, the ship's designers included doors between them. In case of emergency, those doors could be closed with the flip of a switch, sealing the compartments off from one another and theoretically keeping water confined to the breached compartments. Even if, two middle or four front compartments were breached, the theory ran, the ship would stay afloat. Unfortunately, the iceberg that sank the Titanic breached five compartments."

In the spring of 1909, nearly two years after Ismay hatched his plan to top Cunard, construction began on the Titanic at Harland & Wolff's large shipyard in Belfast, Ireland. Of Harland & Wolff's 15,000 workers, around 3,000 laboured on the Titanic. Records show injuries to nearly 250 workers, with two workers dying in construction accidents in the shipyard and six more dying on board ship during building and fitting. Given the lax worker protection standards at the time, this was actually a good safety record.

The Titanic and Olympic, which were built at essentially the same time, were so much larger than previous ships that Harland & Wolff had to dismantle three existing slipway and build two new dry docks to house them. It took two years to complete the actual construction of the Titanic, during which time workers placed 2,000 steel plates to form the hull, held together with more than three million rivets. Many riveters reported developing hearing problems later in life as a result of the noise the accompanied this task.

Titanic Quarter 

Titanic by name, Titanic by nature, Belfast’s Titanic Quarter is one of the world’s largest urban-waterfront regeneration projects. Master-planned over 185 acres on the site where RMS Titanic was designed and built, Titanic Quarter is redefining what it means to work, live, play and stay in central Belfast. We can help you build your future among the inspiring legacy of Belfast’s maritime and industrial past.

Reflecting the achievements of history with the latest design approaches, Titanic Quarter’s futuristic mix of residential, commercial, tourism, education and retail space has provided Belfast with a new urban quarter. 

In the past decade much has been achieved - Titanic Quarter has gone from a master plan to reality as a thriving and bustling destination, attracting over 1 million visitors every year.  With £425 million of investment completed to date, 18,000 people live, work, study and play in Titanic Quarter daily.  .

Fostering Titanic Quarter's community, along with its sense of place and purpose, is as critical to its long-term success as developing some of the most sophisticated and sustainable regeneration projects in Europe.

Existing Absolut bottle artwork:

How the designers design Absolut bottles gave a huge insight into how to approach this brief and considerations appropriate of the brand. “This is one of the most dramatic changes we’ve ever made, and our biggest and most transformative design project ever. Our goal was to give our customers distinctive designs that are unlike anything one has ever seen. Vibrant, captivating bottles that bring energy to any occasion and celebrate the fact that every flavour in the Absolut Vodka range is something extraordinary,” says Anna Kamjou, Global Design Director at Absolut. “The standard thinking says a fruit-flavoured vodka requires a picture of the fruit on the bottle. We wanted to break that convention. We asked our design team to reach into the symbolism and myths tied to the ingredients to find each flavour’s core essence — and then amplify that essence through art.”

Absolut's style of design is unique to the brand and aims to represent flavours through a creative abstract style of colour pattern and texture. The bold type and brightly coloured designs will allow me to incorporate colour more into my designs and my own practice. The bold type against a high contrast colour design works really well due to being eye catching and unique with marks and texture. 

Redesigns: