design

Who is Ed Hardy and why is he on so many wine and spirits labels? His website says Ed Hardy is:

known as “the godfather of modern tattoo”, for his sophistication, depth and sense of experimentation. California native Don Ed Hardy is recognized around the world for his technical brilliance and mesmerizing imagery. Don Ed Hardy pulls from life experience to meld American, Japanese, Cholo, tattoo, surf and hotrod iconography. This broad spectrum of taste and experience, coupled with an ongoing investigation of various art histories and a mastery of technique, give his work a unique range and depth.

The colors on that site nearly melted the monitor. It turns out that tattoo art, on alcohol beverage packages, goes way back. Sailor Jerry Rum goes back at least a few decades. This article points out that Ed Hardy learned tattoo techniques from none other than the original Sailor Jerry.

We don’t know much about Miranda Lambert, but we liked the looks of these labels. The graphic designer did a nice job of making them visually interesting, in our opinion. These Texas table wines would not be nearly as tantalizing without this impressive culmination of fonts, word choices, and graphics. This article says the singer is actively involved in running the winery, and it shows. She’s pretty busy for a 24 year old, with a winery and various Grammy Award nominations, and this e-commerce site for wines. She is nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year and performing on the CMA Awards in two days on ABC. On the technical side, the Kerosene COLA shows that TTB requires a bit more space around the Government Warning.

This pretty much jumps off the screen (and the shelf?). This is from contributor Amber Fries, who said:  “There are several ways this label can be construed, and none of them have much to do with the wine inside.” The wine is barely mentioned. If sex really sells, this may well prove it.