Johnnie Walker x Pawel Nolbert Limited Artist Edition

Artist: Pawel Nolbert
Creative Agency: LOVE
Creative Director: Chris Myers, LOVE
Packaging Creative Director: Sam Wilkes, LOVE
Designer: Tom Nicklin, LOVE
Senior Account Manager: Tom Cleary, LOVE
Senior Account Executive: Jess Davey, LOVE
Global Brand Team: Julie Maclure, Diageo
Global Brand Manager: Nicolas Paul, Diageo
Master Blender: Jim Beveridge, Diageo
Location: New York, NY, USA

Pawel Nolbert was approached by Diageo / LOVE to create a Limited Artist Edition of Johnnie Walker whisky, which is number 1 Scotch whisky in the World.

The idea was to create 6 designs to be applied across the range of Johnnie Walker variants: Red Label, Black Label, Double Black Label, Gold Label, Green Label and Platinum Label.

The result of the collaboration is a selection of limited edition gift packs available around the globe.

Visuals
The designs needed to evoke the flavour of each blend, in a progressive and pioneering manner that runs parallel to the brands values.

Pawel Nolbert went for a clean but striking look, with expressive graphics against a clean white background - a look that stands out from the typical offerings of whisky packs.

The creative was to blend two crafts together, just like Johnnie Walker whisky is about blending flavours, and Pawel Nolbert's work is about blending paint, and mixing colors.

The artworks were meant to show diversity of the whole line and illustrate the progression and refinement, as Pawel Nolbert go throughout the labels and their price points - going from Red Label - more expressive and energetic, and up to the more premium and refined Platinum Label.

6 different master visuals were created, and other complimentary graphic assets, to be used on exclusive packaging and in marketing materials.

Process
A lot of effort was put into the development of artwork concepts and compositions. Composition was a key element that helped convey the characteristics of blends, create distinction between them and help market the labels respectively.

Pawel Nolbert made a bold move, to replace the original label, angled at 24 degrees* with a brushstroke, which is the central part of the paint composition. The challenge was to build 6 unique brushstroke compositions, while the central part remained pretty much consistent across all variants.

Pawel Nolbert wanted the movement of the brush itself to represent the keywords associated with different blends, then develop the artworks based on that. Many different concepts were created.

The experience of Scotland and its distilleries was a great inspiration. Pawel Nolbert took a lot of pictures and the Scottish impression definitely had its part in developing the artworks, as he believe the taste of Scotch whisky itself perfectly represents the region from which it originates.

You can literally taste that soil, history and culture in a Scotch.

As an artist, Pawel Nolbert tried to consider those qualities and inspirations, when creating the visuals, especially when working for a brand with such rich Scottish legacy.