The Australian wine label: an analysis of the impact of graphic design and visual communication strategies in the wine industry

To enable a better understanding of the relationship between visual communication design or graphic design strategies and the creation of brand identity, embodied in the wine label/package, for Australian Table wines the researcher has created a critical taxonomy of the wine label/package form. The catalyst for the research is the observation that the wine industry is making a considerable investment in the design of labelling and packaging. In response to this situation, this research tests the hypothesis that, the design of wine labelling and packaging plays a significant role in the communication of complex and diverse information about brand values and customer attitudes. As part of the process of testing this hypothesis the research sets out to answer three related questions. The first, what are the dominant elements used in the graphic design of labelling and packaging for the wine industry? The second, what key design strategies are used to develop brand identity? Finally, how have these strategies changed over time? In order to investigate these three questions, the study constructs a critical taxonomy of wine labels/packages, that is inclusive of a semiotic (the material and referential qualities of the wine label/package) analysis. This analysis makes reference to representational theory, including the recognition and use of a visual language that manifests between the label/package and the consumer. The research is also informed by the professional knowledge and expertise of the author as ‘participant observer’ a methodology of practice based research (Sullivan 2004, p.61) that is utilised in the study and is justified by the author’s experiences as graphic designer and design academic for a period of more than 25 years. The study and the critical taxonomy is focussed broadly on Australian wine regions and on the Hunter Valley region in particular. The labels that form the major visual element of the taxonometric investigation, span a period in Australian wine history from the late 1940s to 2008. The research is structured in three parts; the present dissertation, an interactive database (eBook, DVD) featuring a selection from a collected 7000 classified wine labels and detailing the research journey, and a public exhibition (itself an example of graphic design) of significant elements of the collection and the key findings of the work.