Salford café and bar The Old Fire Station has teamed up with students from the BA Graphic Design programme at the University of Salford to launch new custom designed craft beers from its in-house Lark Hill Brewery.
The new beers, Northern Crown and Aurora Beerialis, had their labels designed by third-year student Annabelle Wrigley, who won a competition amongst 66 BA Graphic Design students to pull together 12 beer labels in six weeks to help market the new additions crafted by Lark Hill.
The brewery, based in Chapel Street, approached the university to design the labels for the new beers earlier this year, providing students with the opportunity to work with a client on a professional brief as part of their studies.
Wrigley’s striking designs were chosen for the labels by Changmin Lee, Lark Hill Brewery’s Head Brewer, who also employed her on a short contract to make final amends to the labels before the beers go on sale.
Wrigley said: “It’s been an absolute dream to work on this project. My dad has always been a big fan of craft beer and would go far and wide to try them, so I grew up knowing about respecting the beer and what makes the labels stand out. So when I got given this project, I felt that it was something that was perfectly suited to me. The timing for a project like this at the start of my last year is perfect!”
Each third-year BA Graphic Design student was given the brief at the start of term in September and had to give a midpoint presentation to get feedback from Changmin before finalising their design in time for an exhibition at the Old Fire Station on Friday, December 15.
Whilst Wrigley’s designs were chosen for the final product, the Station’s café has had walls decorated with a broad range of the designs that came in from the students.
Alan Oliver, programme leader for BA Graphic Design said: “This has been a great project for our students who all embraced it massively and said that they’ve loved the opportunity.
“We’ve had live projects from agencies before but this was a chance to build a professional portfolio for assessment and rise to the challenge of delivering 12 beer labels in six weeks which is a big ask for any designer.”
Mike Brown, director of strategic partnerships at the University of Salford, added: “The Old Fire Station offers the chance to provide access to real world industry for teaching, learning, research and engagement. As we integrate with it, it’s important that we leverage as much as we can from it, whether that’s student employment, projects or internships. It give us a real USP. There’s just not that many universities in the UK with a brewery and even a bakery.
“Every student on that academic programme got to work with our Head Brewer to design real world beer cans. I’m really proud of that fact.”
It is hoped that up to six beers will be sold wholesale from the brewery in the new year. Northern Crown is a tropical, hazy IPA whilst Aurora Beerialis is a Honey Kolsch.
Changmin added: “It has been a very successful project that has had a clear goal of working with University students and giving them the opportunity to work with the food and drink industry.
“Beyond the design work, it has also helped teach them an understanding of how food and beer labels work and what you can and can’t put on the label. I’d say that the designs we have now are what you would expect from others within the industry.”
