Where have all the character mascots gone?
Macdesign Magazine | Writer: Jake Widman

Consorzio, meet Olly the Olive.

MacDesign Magazine has a monthly feature callled "Design Makeover" in which three designers are invited to revamp an existing design piece. I was invited by writer Jake Widman to participate. Here is what I said about the process:

"I liked the playfulness of the original label--it makes the bottle stand out nicely on the shelf. I just think it needs to be more "special." The confetti pattern on the existing label wasn't enough one thing or another--it was just sorta there, innocuous but not distinctive.

"I had a teacher once who said, "If you're going to make a mark, give it personality." That's what I tried to do by basing my new label on an illustration. Olly the Olive would be on every Consorzio bottle, doing something eye-catching with the key ingredient. On a crowded store shelf, Olly would appeal to kids and oldsters alike.

"As a balance, I recast the Consorzio logo itself as one suggesting an Old World brand, something solid. I based the logo on Mark Simonson's Mostra Heavy typeface, which is based on a lettering style from 1930s Italian Art Deco advertising and posters. The more sedate logo treatment would serve as a solid anchor across product lines, while allowing the individual products themselves to show more variation and playfulness.

"I peppered the rest of the label with my own Retrofit font for whimsical contrast. Achieving the right degree of scontrast requires careful tuning and consistency."