Drink up this cool crypto brewery branding.
When we first took on this project and learned about the Mutant Ape Yacht Club, I was left wondering: who gave these apes a boating license? As it turns out, there is no actual seacraft involved here. MAYC is a collection of NFTs. If you’re up to speed on your tech abbreviations, NFTs are like digital artwork trading cards. The mutant ape line is a bunch of unique funky monkeys (often with grossly detailed features ala the Garbage Pail Kids of our youth). The more rare the ape illustration, the more valuable they are on the NFT market.
The forward-thinking folks at Mutant Brewing didn’t have a brand yet when they came to us, but they did have a set of NFTs that they wanted to build their brand around. When you purchase a bored ape NFT, Yuga Labs (the people behind MAYC) offers a broad license that has very little restriction on usage. So the NFT owner can take that artwork and use it however they wish, like open their own NFT-themed restaurant. In this case, our team worked with the mutant ape NFTs to design a set of beer labels featuring the art.
The fact that the brewery was based on a brand that essentially already exists presented a unique challenge. We needed this brand to feel like it was part of that Mutant Ape NFT universe while not infringing on its existing logo. We worked with Mutant Brewing to get the vibe right for the overall brand, complete with goopy drips, bold illustrations, and some punchy copy throughout to keep the brand voice bold and irreverent.
We approached each can label design as a separate chapter of the brand. As with most modern breweries, each beer took on a different ape personality with unique colors and fonts to embody the unique flavor profile. We maintained a consistent layout that incorporated colors and patterns that still fit with the main brand.
The end result was a super colorful bunch of apes packed with personality (and some pretty great beer). We definitely recommend checking out the brewery or hopping on the mutated website we created to grab some merch. Cheers!
