Bama Shines

Trey Diveley, a proud veteran of the US, approached me to create a label for his new moonshine drink. Trey is part of a long history of veterans, and it was an honor to serve him. I’ve never created a label before for an actual drink, so this was exciting!

Here is the finalized label in all its glory! Scroll down to see the journey of how I got here!

The best way to find an initial direction is to always see what’s out there already. I made a small scrap board of the competition and inspiration that the client liked. Maybe I can glean a little of what everyone else is doing and then put our spin on it.

Bama Shines is located in Alabama, and the Mammoth is huge there! I created a scrap board of mammoths for reference on the structure and physiology of this ancient pachyderm. Those tusks and fur are the most striking features of the mammoth, so I had to make sure those were prominent in the mammoth’s design.

I started sketching the mammoth! It was sketched in illustrator with the pen tool, fast and loose and sloppy. I wanted to get the pose down and the fur and tusks. To me, these are the most powerful parts of the mammoth.

The client chose the bottom left, and I agree with him! The pose is settled but intimidating, stocky and powerful.

I started playing around with the mammoth as well as a preliminary label. Every designer has to go through fonts to see how well it pair’s with artwork, so this took quite some time.

The Alabama flag is also very striking in it’s blood red cross! Once I put it behind the mammoth, Trey was impressed!! I took that and began to walk in that direction.

After incorporating the Alabama flag into the design, I started to experiment with color. I want this eye popping on the shelf or in the bar or in your refrigerator!

I created some mockups of different flavor labels to see if the colors vibe with the client. Design wise these were nice… however, Trey wanted a little more homogeneity as well as a more mature scheme. I realized these look a little childish and too colorful….

After darkening the colors to a “charred” color scheme, I made the first mockup of the label! Because we will be making a label for an alcoholic drink, its imperative we put the required government warnings somewhere on the label. I put this warning under the description, so that information about the drink itself is all grouped together.

Trey loved the design!!! We were so proud to have made this together. There was quite a lot of back and forth when submitting these to the government for approval. There is specific wording that we have to adhere to, and many times our design was rejected. Sometimes it even seemed like the rejections were random, like different agents were giving two different opinions. But we persevered and and we finally got it approved!!!!!

Bama Shines got all their licenses to sell moonshine across the states! They printed the labels and got them on shelves. How beautiful are these bad boys in array??

Trey sent our finalized designs for two flagship flavors, White Lightning and Charred. Once he got them, he started pumping out the drinks really quickly! It’s such a kick to see my design in an actual production, and on shelves!!

Trey wanted a first edition run of the drinks, so I added a cool medal at the bottom. This special batch is numbered by hand with marker by his team. Trey is going to ship me one of these first editions for posterity….or maybe I’ll finish it immediately, I’m not sure yet.

Trey was setting up booths and bringing his signature drinks to the public and parties. Bama Shines is blowing up!!

Trey has been uploading the label and other branded assets onto his social media accounts and Bama Shines is getting a lot of attention. Bars and restaurants are reaching out to him, and he’s getting direct messages asking about when his team is ready to sell.

I've had such a blast creating with Bama Shines. Trey was easy to work with, he was patient with the government and adjusting for regulations, following correct procedures, and thorough with explaining exactly what he needed.

I hope to continue working with them in the future! Thank you Trey!