A vintage-inspired packaging system for a fictional Canadian craft ginger ale — concept, illustration, can, carrier, and mockups.
The goal: an original packaging system for a craft beverage in a 12 oz slim can, with a matching four-pack carrier and mockups that show it in context.
I chose a non-alcoholic craft ginger ale and built an entire fictional brand around it — Canadian Wolf Bird — rooted in the imagery of the Canadian backcountry: lakeside cottages, pine forest, still water at first light, and the call of the loon.
The nickname does the heavy lifting. In Northern folklore the loon is called the "wolf bird," so the name carries the wilderness, the wildlife, and a little mystery in three words.
Rather than a flat front and back, the label reads as one continuous scene — a dock on a quiet lake at sunrise — that you discover as the can turns in your hand.
The world came first. I pulled from the quiet of the Canadian backcountry — still water at dawn, a cabin with smoke in the pines, the lonely call of a loon across the lake.
Vintage craft-beverage labels and weathered lodge signage shaped the lettering and ornament. The brand's emotional center came from Rachel Reid's novel Heated Rivalry — the source of the dock, the closeness in the illustration, and the name on the can.
Before committing, I explored three illustration routes and tested the wordmark until the lettering felt crafted instead of corporate.
A full wraparound illustration on one side; a working information panel on the other — designed to meet real beverage conventions.
The four-pack carrier extends the same scene across its panels, so the artwork continues unbroken when the cans sit inside.
The top flap repeats the wordmark, volume, and key details for shelf visibility — the part a shopper sees first looking down into a cooler.
Rendered in Photoshop to check how the scene wraps, how the panel sits, and how the four-pack reads on a shelf.
