NONGIN Label Design

Label Design

NONGIN

Concept + Label Design

NONGIN Alcohol Free Gin

During the hype that swept through a corner of the alcoholic beverage world, non-alcoholic gin became a particularly hot trend. In the same year I helped develop the concept for NONGIN, I also created a few spot illustrations for World of Gin—a book you can check out [here].

As for NONGIN: the creators approached me with the product already in hand. They were looking for a concept that would capture the fun of gin—without the downsides, since it was alcohol-free—and also a multi-layered brand identity to reflect their range of flavors. Between household names like Hendrick’s and Bombay Sapphire, and even non-alcoholic options like Sipsmith and Seedlip, the gin space was already saturated with character-based, hyper-detailed and complex designs.

For this concept, I drew inspiration from Art Deco patterns and styles as the foundation for each bottle's visual identity. The color palettes were guided by elegant, distinguished birds—whose natural patterns gave me a beautifully organic starting point for the label designs.

To create a stronger narrative around each design, I deliberately avoided the common trope of featuring literal animals on gin bottles (see: all the brands mentioned above). Instead, I leaned into bold shapes and vibrant colors inspired by vintage cartoon characters—specifically from the Hanna-Barbera era of the 1950s. The idea was to develop playful, stylish characters that gave personality to each bottle.

The ‘Original’ flavor was represented by a peacock, with a character I named The Waiter. The second flavor featured the Northern Loon (a stunning bird native to Canada), accompanied by Fancy Man. And the third flavor was marked by a Blue Jay, with Boss Girl as its corresponding character.

You can see the full process book for this project here.

Although the gin itself never made it to production, developing this concept was an exciting and creatively fulfilling experience.