La Bassa

Design: ByVolume
Location: United Kingdom
Project Type: Produced
Client: Brewfist
Product Launch Location: Global
Packaging Contents: Beer
Packaging Substrate / Materials: Aluminium Cans

Brewfist challenged ByVolume to design the packaging for a standalone beer destined to the export market that could visually communicate their ‘italianness’ away from stereotypes and old clichés. Our answer was to create an old fictional cover of the popular sports newspaper Gazzetta Dello Sport, carrying its visual language, layout, vintage typography and the iconic pink colour. The sport making the headline could be nothing but cycling, with the name La Bassa referencing both the brewery’s local area and the in-the-drops climbing style made famous by cycling hero Marco Pantani.

The illustration style draws inspiration from the Italian futurist art movement and its praise of speed and dynamics, while the custom lettering and typography creates a strong link to the past. The beer and label proved so popular that La Bassa is now also available in cans of 500ml.

Since the most common can formats for craft beer are 330/440ml, we wanted to emphasise this bold choice. We created the tagline #mezzolitro (half a litre!) to signify the uncommon size of the can and placed it on the neck of the can alongside the brewery’s old slogan “more beer more people”. The aluminium can is finished with an all-over matt varnish.