Design studio Ensemble and craft brewery Blackjack have joined forces to uncover the untold tales of lost Manchester neighbourhood Angel Meadow, through a distinctive rebrand.
A firm favourite amongst the traditional Manchester scene, Blackjack needed a brand that aligned with its strengths, sitting perfectly between the traditional world of CAMRA pubs, with floral pump clips and metal tankards, and the increasingly saturated world of progressive craft beer.
This meeting point of tradition and modernity was crucial to BJBC’s visual aesthetic.
“The previous incarnation was much loved by their existing local customers, but was less known amongst the stacked bottle room fridges. This, paired with the desire to move away from any association with casinos or gambling, gave us room to reestablish and celebrate the Jack, from the face card, to a pivotal character of folklore, who brought to life the stories that we all share when sat with a beer,” said Martin James Power, Ensemble,
As a brewery proudly started and housed in a historic but forgotten part of Manchester, Angel Meadow, Blackjack had something that most other breweries of 12 years don’t have — a heritage story, not of their beer, but their neighbourhood.
The process began with documenting, recreating and regenerating the found type of the area, from the decorative headstones of the meadow’s burial field and the Victorian stonework of the Ragged school, right through to the street signs and the more recent hand-painted signage of their taproom.
This gave life to a bespoke typeface, inspired by the neighbourhood around the brewery, BlackJack Meadow. A condensed sans serif with all the quirks and nuance of the days of old, crafted to bring texture to the stories of the Jack.
Beyond the typeface, stories and tales from the area, both known and unknown, are brought to life across the core range of beers, paired with a new naming system that celebrates the very cobbled streets that Blackjack raised from.
“The opportunity for us to celebrate our heritage and the very streets we were founded on was something we loved. It not only gives us a story to tell, but celebrates our very foundations in the type that the story is set in,” said Blackjack’s Rich Fowell.
With over 42 beers produced annually, the final design solution needed to be built on a bulletproof system, allowing for the quick production of at least two new beers per month. To enable this, the team created a clean, concise design system that could create diversity across the ranges, whilst allowing new can designs, simply, that would stay within the range but allow enough flexibility for each can to be distinct in its own right.
The new brand has now been rolled out across all of the core range and venues and is beginning to hit bottle shops now.
