Guotai Spirits

As bourbon is to Kentucky, so Baijiu is to China and for more than 5,000 years, it has been the nation’s signature drink. The ancient Chinese distillation process that Guotai uses, comes from the most distinguished and legendary Baijiu blending masters, such as Senior Master Xu. Guotai’s vast popularity throughout Asia and a rapidly expanding market, prompted the decision to distribute their spirit to consumers worldwide.

In 2015 I was asked to design a website for Guotai that would help market their brand of baijiu to consumers in the United States. The products had not yet hit the shelves and my client was looking to develop a branded look for Guotai that would set it apart from other liquors in the marketplace.

When marketing liquor, image is critical. Being so new to the American market, the label designs for Guotai had not been fully developed, nor were there any bottles on hand to be professionally photographed. During the planning phase it was necessary to create a visual representation of the products that the website would ultimately showcase. I quickly got to work creating digital illustrations of the bottles. These renderings needed to visually articulate every detail of the final bottle designs and have a realistic quality that could pass as the actual products. During the process I assisted with various modifications to the label design in order to help capture the essence of the Guotai brand. The bottle renderings shown here were the results of that process.

Due to an accelerated go-to-market timeline, planning and design of the website needed to be developed in concert with the product illustrations. I rapidly worked to create a design that would showcase the products while also revealing the history and traditions that are unique to baijiu.

Client: Guotai Spirits
My Role: Branding | Illustration | Website
Work: Branding | Website
Designed for: ACS Creative