Pabst Blue Ribbon Can Designs
For this project I was selected by the team at Sleeman Breweries to design 473ml Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR) Limited Edition Art Can. Among others short-listed artists, I had to come up with three unique design solutions that would reflect Pabst's identity as well as make the can stand out on the shelves.
Blue Ribbon Monster
In this design, I focused on the Pabst brand heritage. Mainly the brand identity. The PBR name, which came from blue ribbons tied around the bottleneck gave me an idea to create a Blue Ribbon monster that is taking over the beer can. This could tap into millennial demographics as well as baby boomers who are familiar with the brand - and its blue ribbon history. I minimized the size of the frame adding a dimension that creates an illusion of the ribbon monster crawling out. I chose to have the background red and work mainly with flat shapes to make the design pop and make PBR cans stand out on the shelves.
Chill-Out Dreaminess
For the second concept, I focused on the emotion and feeling you get from drinking beer. The moment you enter the euphoric stage, when all thoughts and problems disappear, and it is just dreaminess. The clouds in the design are reminiscent of smoke, which could also tap into cannabis or tobacco smokers. We are all spending time at home dreaming and escaping from everything that is going on in the world.
Party Explosion
In my third design, I wanted to represent the party spirit and the explosion of fun given that PBR is strongly associated with having fun and being social. This design reflects the spirit of Pabst drinkers: cool, vandalistic, free, always ready to party - even in times like these.