Happy Birthday, PMAC! Let's raise a beer to the Portsmouth Music and Arts Center. Even better — let's raise a special edition PMAC Loaded Questions Italian Pils. In honor PMAC's 21st birthday, they invited me to design the label. The goal was to encompass all the lessons and instructions PMAC offers.

Designing to the brief

A particular challenge was creating a design that didn't feel kid-like. Also, there exists a wide variety in icons. We were careful to select icons representative of each discipline. We had a lot of detailed conversations about finding just the right icon for each instrument. The resulting design features an all-over surface design of instruments and tools icons you'd find at PMAC.

Checking off a bucket list item

For me, this project was particularly exciting. I ticked off an item from my designer bucket list — beer can label! Projects like this really make me feel "leveled up" as a designer. Designing a label includes a couple of must-haves:

It has to meet the needs of the client.
Not only does the client have to approve, but so does the brewery and certain regulatory bodies.
It has to look good in three dimension.

Luckily, we managed to do all three, and we had a winner. I heard it sold out quickly! Overall, I'm so happy with the way it turned out.

Three cheers to beer!