The better you look at a beer package, the easier it is for you to pay for it?

For those craft beer that is rising, the packaging is the brand and the brand is the sound.

We seem to be more and more willing to pay for "face value": because a CD cover looks beautiful and collects, because an app 's UI looks good and downloads, because a leg of Oba is good and pits... if it's a bottle of beer, Do you also look at two eyes because of the facial value, or even buy it?

A recent study by Angila Ruskin University in the United Kingdom shows that it is. The researchers gathered 40 people in front of shelves full of unknown brands of beer, and brought them glasses for tracking eye movements. Through the heat map, we analyzed the length of time that people gazed at each brand of beer. The results show that: Compared with doubling the number of beer shelves, the attractive packaging design can increase the probability of beer sales three times.

In the experimental heat map, the warmer the color is, the longer the fixation time is. Picture from designweek.com

This is also the personal experience of Harvey Shepard , the blogger of the famous American beer label design Oh Beautiful Beer . “When I go back and forth in front of the shelves and try to find a new brand to try the taste, I almost always choose the one that has the most attractive outer packaging. If a brewer is willing to spend so much effort and resources on design, I believe that they must be equally motivated with their beer process."

Founded in 2011 , Harvey Shepard’s blog has included more than 500 brewers and designers. In October last year, he also published the book “Beer is awesome: History of craft beer and packaging design evolution” ( Oh A collection of blogs from Beautiful Beer: The Evolution of Craft Beer and Design . Why do more and more designers participate in the design of beer labels? Shepard explained that the interesting design is an important way to compete with hand craft beer and big brand beer suppliers.

According to the Brewer 's Association of last November, the number of American handmade craft beer business reached a record of 4144. This is the highest figure in official records since 1873 . Because these brewers have little marketing money, packaging design is equivalent to talking about the “canvas” of the brand story, so more and more craft brewers try to stand out through the label design on the bottle. Harvey Shepard is the most concerned about this phenomenon in the United States: "These designs are full of craftsmanship and aesthetics, emphasizing the kind of hands-on quality under the small business model."

The increase in the number of small handmade craft brewers also means that designers have embraced unprecedented design freedom. These emerging brewers are entrepreneurs and will not stick to the traditional design paradigm as other brands of drinks. Many people in the design chose to express the warmth and humanistic colors of the small workshops through elaborate and hand-painted labels, but quite a few of them also used strange icons to contrast some of the more bizarre names of brewers (multi-map warning).

For example, the following is from Kaju Beer in the Prahran region of Australia . The image of a cartoon monster is drawn in bright colors.

Some designs have made more breakthroughs. Moo Brew in Hobart , Australia , because the new series of beer was made at the site of the Museum of Old and New Art ( Mona ) in the Moorilla Winery , so beer was loaded into the red wine bottle. Reflects the theme of the museum's consistent sexuality and death.

New Zealand's Garage Project has attracted a large group of loyal fans with frequent changing beer can designs.

Canada Longwood Brewery drawn Morse code on a black matte bottle Stoutnik this wine.

Some people changed the packaging too: Estonian brewer Viru reformed the shape of the bottle, Britain's Brew Dog packed the bottle into the animal's specimen, and Denmark's Mikkeller issued a series of bottle label designs that changed when the temperature rose. .

BrewDog's “ The End of History ” series has the highest beer rate in history ( 55% ) and is also the most expensive beer in history, with a global limit of 11 bottles. The squirrels in Scottish plaid dresses have 7 bottles of 500 Euros each; the grey squirrels have 4 bottles of 700 Euros each.

Mikkeller's "The Wild Winter Ales" series, which was released in 2012 Mikkeller four seasons in the series "Winter," 3500 limited edition bottle. The paint above is warm, and if the temperature rises, the leaves of the apple tree will fall out.

These efforts by the small craft craft brewers proved to be effective. Damian Kelly , an Australian designer with 15 years of experience in the design of beer and wine labels , said that although artisanal brewing only accounts for 3.5% of the Australian beer industry , the forecast shows that artisanal wine will usher in 6% for the next five years. Increased.

Beer consumption also faces some changes in China. A 30 -year-old Chinese girl, Chen Jing, said in an interview with The New York Times: “I would rather spend money to buy a few bottles of good wine than to buy a bunch of bargains. I feel very bloated after drinking it, and I still have a headache. It's not just about drinking, it's more about the lifestyle I choose."

As China's middle class continues to grow in size, more and more young people like Chen Jing are pursuing a lifestyle that is relatively economical. The number of local craft beer is also increasing. Beijing and Shanghai's emerging hand craft beer brands include Slowboat , Shanghai , Boxing Cat , Brew and many more. Beijing local has about 6 small craft brewers, such as Beijing A beer brewing workshop, the boss from Connecticut, USA and Toronto, Canada, they will be American style combined with local characteristics, the supply of workers ale (Worker 's Pale Ale), The Air has a double IPA ( Airpocalypse Double IPA ) and Beijing Wheat .

Other cities such as Qingdao, Dali, and Chengdu have also emerged similar brewers. Carl Setzer , founder and winemaker of Great Leap Brewing , who came to the Gulou district in Beijing in 2004 , said that China's largest home-made beer tavern is in Suzhou and operated by a Taiwanese-run golden wheat beer company. 2000 square meters, with China's largest on-site brewing system.

However, compared with other Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea and Vietnam, China’s per capita consumption is not high. This may be a good thing. After all, in an immature market, the craft beer business has more competitive advantages, and beer packaging design and beer culture also have more space and imagination.