Intergalactic Coffee and Mystery Wine: Packaging 10 Entries

Drink designs remain some of the most popular entries for our Packaging 10 competition, and this week’s two new entries don’t disappoint!

If you’re a wine connoisseur, try a sip of “Novaolo” (above). This wine brand pays homage to the two matriarchs of the winemakers’ Polish and Sicilian families by combining their maiden names together. Their loss of last names helped shape Novaolo’s brand identity, making their wine a drink about obscured identities. Michael Hester from the design firm Pavement used this concept to create a tongue-in-cheek set of die-cut labels shaped like torn pieces of notebook paper filled with sophisticated calligraphy scribbles that gradually become unreadable. For a drink as fine as wine, such a ‘messy’ label may seem odd, but the end result stands apart with its originality and unrefined simplicity, drawing consumers in who want to solve the mystery behind the label.

Need a caffeine boost? Dark Matter Coffee will take you to another galaxy! Their creatively named brands–Unicorn Blood, A Love Supreme, Starry Eyes, and Machete–are all part of their Portfolio Blends and are loved by diehard coffee fans from all over. Recently, the company decided these four coffee bags needed a rebranding. Working with design firm Zimmer-Design and artist Raul Urias, “Dark Matter Coffee Core Brands Redesign” (above) is probably the grooviest coffee packaging you’ll ever find with its psychedelic, space-traveling, sci-fi-based design. Each blend has its own set of layered visual references, out-there symbolism, and detailed color palettes, all tying together to create a New Worlds Fair feel. The revamped Portfolio Blends hit the shelves nationwide in December 2020, so go buy this edible art now! 

Our Packaging 10 competition ends February 9th, so enter now before it’s too late! And if you want to see other fun packaging designs, click here.