Twelve years of retail brand evolution for Switchback Ale
In the summer of 2012, after 10 years as an on-tap only offering, Switchback Brewing Co. released its flagship Ale in 22oz. bottles. Interrobang designed what amounted to 40 label variations for the brewery; researching shapes that would work efficiently with their new bottling line, color dominance, typographic visibility verses legibility, and brand element evolution. The brand team kept returning to a dominant simple shape, with a flood of Switchback Blue that amplified the enlarged Switchback word mark, with a solid and legible modified slab-serif ALE.
The neck, front, and rear labels were printed offset, in four-color process, and die cut using custom dielines created by Interrobang.
Two years later the brewery offered Switchback Ale in proprietary 12oz. stubby bottle 6-packs. The 22oz. labels were scaled proportionately for these new, soon to be iconic bottles.
Switchback installed a canning line in 2018, allowing their beers to be packaged to travel into the woods and onto beaches without fear of broken glass. Interrobang developed several dozen 16oz. designs to capitalize on the legacy Switchback branding and retail recognition they had gained over the past 6 years. A topographic motif utilizing the local Appalachian (App) Gap terrain was chosen as a base for a large Switchback logo and legacy Switchback ALE lock-up. This design was later used, with a color field change, for Switchback IPA.
These cans were produced by Ball; printed RAW aluminum, using six INX Color System colors developed utilizing the Switchback brand color palette.
In 2020, even though Switchback Ale sales were still strong, retailers requested a fresh look for the 12oz. stubby bottles and 6-pack carrier to keep consumers engaged with the brand. Using the legacy label shape, Switchback Blue field and herringbone linear pattern from an earlier keg sticker, Interrobang enlarged the ALE slab-serif typography, capped by a new Switchback type treatment and full color logo.
Almost concurrently, Interrobang was developing graphics for a 12oz can version of the Ale, to be sold exclusively in a cartoned 12 pack. The new treatment of the Switchback Ale type on the 12oz stubby label was moved to these designs, but with the blue color field flipped to cover the can. A center badge shape was designed for copy legibility, the angles and bottom curve pulled from the Switchback logo shape. Ball continued as production partner, aiding in efficient color proofing and consistency.
The current 16oz. Switchback Ale can design is an obvious formal departure from previous branded packaging, while keeping the brand's retail essence intact. Using a modified, angled Switchback word mark and Dot S icon, with a bold script Ale, the design has roots in legacy American baseball graphics and energy.