Inspiration for the Eyes instead of the Palette

Week 45’s Beer-Type logo design was inspired by the font itself. Or should I say the font family? Charcuterie is an amazing family of ten distinct typefaces and three decorative/ornamental typefaces by type designer Laura Worthington. There’s a lengthy description of this typeface family on her site, but my favorite part is this…

“Charcuterie is an homage to the inventiveness, passion, and care of peasants who proudly handed down recipes through generations. Their humble fare is used by bistro chefs to create masterpieces by ever so slightly transforming the simple into the sumptuous. Similarly, with Charcuterie the designer can employ the handcrafted look of the many letters within these font families to create a project that is jaunty, quirky, and juicy or one that is a gloriously rich and varied feast for the eyes.”

The entire Charcuterie typeface family is a dream come true to any logo or bottle label designer! The elements of Ornaments and Frames are an instant must-use, with the addition of the Catchwords font which features several variations of words like “with”, “to” and “or”. Being there are so many options to choose from, I thought this logo was going to be easy. (Shame on me) However, with the breadth of shapes and fonts, and virtually infinite combinations of these, I found myself gravitating toward my favorite typeface of the bunch (aptly named “Block”) and a few choice ornaments. The result is something both unique and reminiscent of the Charcuterie family of fonts.

French for… awesome beer?

Actually, according to Dictionary.com, Charcuterie (pronounced “shahr-koo-tuh–ree“) is French for 1) a store where pork products, as hams, sausages, and pâtés are sold, and 2) the items sold in such a store. Still awesome in my opinion, this word had me researching French beer. I had recently created a Beer-Type logo design for a Saison, so my thought for this beer logo was to create it as a Pilsner, for which I’m quite familiar with from a French perspective. Can you say Kronenbourg 1664? My love for this beer started the day we could purchase it from the hotel vending machine during my backpacking days in Europe. And the love eventually carried over to when I could find it—before local craft beer—on the shelves of the bottle shop.

But then I expanded upon my research on French Beer, and came across the term Bière de Garde (“beer for keeping”) which I have heard several times. As  Wikipedia’s Beer in France page states, “these beers were originally brewed in farmhouses during the winter and spring, to avoid unpredictable problems with the yeast during the summertime…” Talk about a keeper, as this phrase worked perfect for my logo design.

I like a Strong Pale Ale. Must be that 1/16th Frenchman coming out in me! But of course I have to pay homage to American Craft Beers too. If I had to pick one my beer represents, it would be Arrogant Bastard Ale from Stone Brewing. It’s as strong as it is delicious.