Public Address wants its seltzer identity to look anything but colourful and care-free
Sculptural, serious and gallery-inspired, Cliché has been built with one goal in mind: to be included on a restaurant’s by-the-glass list.
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Don’t say we don’t spoil you – three drink identities in a week! Whether it’s because summer’s on the horizon or there’s just something in the water, there seems to be a lot of drink branding projects floating around at the moment. Although only one of them is trying to disprove the common – and understandable – misnomer that if you’ve seen one seltzer identity, you’ve seen them all: Public Address for Cliché. For the new brand, the Toronto-based design and creative studio brings you work interestingly positioned between the world of contemporary art galleries and scrappy surf magazines.
While the two realms might seem a bit contradictory, it works. Cliché features high-contrast photography that you might expect to tear from an old skate publication; bright red grins appear against shots of smashed glass. “We paired that inspiration with a more stark, gallery-inspired palette,” Chris Braden, co-founder of Public Address tells us.
This mix of high and low – which is something Chris says is key to the Cliché approach – is solidified both with a supporting black and white colour palette and a minimal typeface, Neue Montreal by Pangram Pangram. “The seltzer category is full of a lot of script-y and friendly type,” Chris explains, “by contrast, the use of Neue Montreal is a clear indicator that the brand is something fresh and different.
On the studio’s outlook on the project, Public Address summarises in its case study: “With so many brands leaning into light, bright, care-free packaging and identities, we saw an opportunity to be purposefully different.” Alongside its distinct packaging, the studio introduces a new website for the brand, which is refreshingly cold-looking, and a campaign “featuring a bold, crushed can, creating sculptural silhouettes against the white backdrop”.
GalleryPublic Address: Cliché (Copyright © Cliché, 2022)
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Public Address: Cliché (Copyright © Cliché, 2022)
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Liz (she/they) is associate editor at Insights, a research-driven department within It's Nice That. They previously ran the news section of the website. Get in contact with them for potential Insights collaborations or to discuss Insights’ fortnightly column, POV.