Pump the breaks my can design refreshing friend….

Hello, hello, happy Friday, you gorgeous people! I just got an email newsletter from another branding company, and it was an interesting one.

They were chatting about breweries opting for redesigns instead of full rebrands. The gist was, with tight budgets, breweries might want to just refresh their packaging, bring everything in line, especially if different designers have worked on it over time. They made a good point—sometimes a little refresh can help you stand out and get people to take notice again.

But here's the thing—they completely skipped over a fundamental aspect of it all: how and why you’re going to do this refresh. You still need to dive deep into understanding your market and competition if you want to do this effectively. Otherwise, you might go to an agency and say, "Yeah, yeah, just tidy it all up, make it look neat and nice," and they'll do their best with colour theory, spacing, and all that design stuff. But that doesn't mean it's the best thing for your brand. It still might not resonate or stand out in the marketplace.

It was an interesting read, but I feel like they missed a lot of the deeper information you need when looking at a refresh. If you think a full rebrand is too expensive or too lengthy, I get it. You can absolutely look at refreshing your packaging—your can range, keg range, clips, whatever it is—because it’s a cheaper and potentially quicker process.

But here's the kicker: you have to start with research. It’s no good just saying, "We need them to look more similar." Like, what are you keeping? What are you getting rid of? And why? If an agency just dives straight into the design side without asking these questions, that's a big red flag, folks. Research is crucial in this phase.

So, there’s my bit of wisdom for the day. Heed the warning or not, but it’s something to think about. The design is important, but the strategy behind it is what makes the difference.

Stay awesome!