For the best use of a barcode in a label design, the award goes to…
Awards used to be simple things. Time’s Man of the Year (which one year went to the PC), the Novel Peace Prize (which used to be collected in person), or the Oscar for Best Picture.
These days there are awards in so many niche categories that almost anything has a shot at getting an award.
The wine itself is decent enough, but I hereby nominate Boer & Brit The General for a design award, framed around the use of the barcode in the back label design.
Graphic designers must hate barcodes. They spend hours coming up with beautiful or striking package designs, and at the end of it all they need to find a place to put the barcode. Boxed items are relatively straightforward, because there is always the underside of the box. However, wine bottles are harder. Even on the back label, the barcode is an imposition.
Hence, the way that the barcode has been incorporated into the illustration of the Voortrekker Monument is nothing short of genius. I like the way that the ‘A’ number – another mandatory inclusion – has been placed in the arch of the monument.
A tip on getting the maximum enjoyment out of this wine: It’s a 2009 vintage, sealed under screwcap and consequently so tight and unyielding that it’s almost impossible to get into. At Sotano restaurant last night, I asked for a decanter, or a water jug if none was available, much to the bemusement of the waiting staff. They would certainly have been even more bemused at the way the wine got hurled into the jug (I was after maximum aeration). It finally reached a point of some suppleness when we reached the last half of the final glass much later.
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