Design studio Ensemble explains how it teamed up with a local brewery to represent the city’s heritage in modern beers.
England is a nation of beer lovers, whether you prefer full-strength or zero-alcohol. But not all beer, let’s face it, is that good. It helps to find a brand you can come to know and trust, preferably one that’s local and passionate about its craft. And Blackjack falls right into that category.
Since 2012, Blackjack has been brewing just outside of the Northern Quarter in Manchester (a stone’s throw away from Angel Meadow). It is all about brewing approachable, balanced beers with detail and consistency. Inspired by the era of unfussy, oak-floored British pubs, it now brews those vintage classics for the modern audience, with modern technique and a twist of the future.
To help tell their story through a distinctive rebrand, they turned to Ensemble. This Manchester-based brand strategy and design agency is known for building brands of character through strategic thinking and beautiful design, and their recent clients include Boeing, H&M Group, InVision, Manchester Central, Muse and MUTE Records.
The Brief
Strategic creative director Martin James Power takes up the story. “A firm favourite amongst the traditional Manchester scene, Blackjack needed a brand that aligned with their strengths, sitting perfectly between the traditional world of CAMRA pubs, with floral pump clips and metal tankards, and the increasingly saturated world of progressive craft beer. It’s the meeting points of this tradition and modernity that we wanted to celebrate BJBC’s visual aesthetic.
The previous incarnation was much loved by their existing local customers but was less known “amongst the stacked bottle room fridges,” he continues. “This, paired with the desire to move away from any association with casinos or gambling, gave us room to reestablish and celebrate the Jack, from the face card to a pivotal character of folklore, who brought to life the stories that we all share when sat with a beer.”
In short, as a brewery started and housed in a historical but forgotten part of Manchester, Angel Meadow, Blackjack had something that most other breweries of 12 years didn’t have – a heritage story – not of their beer, but of their neighbourhood.
Design Process
The collaborative process began with documenting, recreating and regenerating the found type of the area, explains Martin. “This ranged from the decorative headstones of the meadow’s burial field and the Victorian stonework of the Ragged school, right through to the street signs and the more recent hand-painted signage of their taproom.”
This research gave life to a bespoke typeface inspired by the neighbourhood around the brewery, BlackJack Meadow. Martin describes it as “A condensed sans serif with all the quirks and nuance of the days of old, crafted to bring texture to the stories of the Jack.”
Beyond the typeface, stories and tales from the area, both known and unknown, are brought to life across the core range of beers, paired with a new naming system that celebrates the cobbled streets where Blackjack began.
“The opportunity for us to celebrate our heritage and the very streets we were founded on was something we loved,” recalls Martin. “It not only gives us a story to tell but celebrates our very foundations, in the type that the story is set in.”
Design System
With over 42 beers produced annually, the final design solution needed to be built on a bulletproof system, allowing for the quick production of at least two new beers per month.
To enable this, the team created a clean, concise design system that could create diversity across the ranges while allowing for the creation of new can designs that would stay within the range but also be distinct in their own right.
The new brand has been rolled out across all of the company’s core range and venues and is starting to hit bottle shops.
