Young Master is one of Asia’s highest-rated and most awarded craft breweries and prides itself in making a wide range of exciting beer styles – from classics to avant-garde. They want to raise the local drinking experience by creating distinct, world-class craft beers. Since opening in 2013, their brewery operations have grown and they plan to open a second brewery in Wong Chuk Hang, which will be the largest brewery in Hong Kong. They also plan to start canning, bottling and selling outside of Hong Kong. As their operations had developed and their presence had grown, they needed to refresh their visual identity to reflect their transformation.
Process
kith&kin was in charge of an overhaul of the visual identity to complement the expansion of their brewery establishment. As this was a complete overhaul of their current identity, we brainstormed with the client in workshops to understand what does the Young Master brand truly embody. Since Young Master was planning to expand overseas, we wanted to find a balance between clearly being a Hong Kong brand but without being cheesy or touristy.
Visual Identity Design
We wanted to keep a lot of the design elements that already existed but make slight tweaks, for example, the red pants and the header font. Paying tribute to the iconic symbol made famous by Bruce Lee and other masters, the newly evolved logo is a polished yet nostalgic makeover of the original Kung-Fu pants. We altered the lock-up of the logo to give more prominence to the Chinese characters to show how Young Master is a proud Hong Kong brand. Our design inspiration came from vintage Chinese matchbox logos.
To make the visual identity and brand story richer, we created additional new elements that complimented the existing brand. The updated colour palette and guilloche border design are inspired by old Chinese medicine and apothecary. The nod to Chinese tradition is a reflection of Young Master Ales’ commitment to absolute mastery and dedication to be Hong Kong’s highest-rated brewery.
Bottle & Label Design
For the can and bottle label design, we collaborated with local Hong Kong illustrator Thierry Chow to create typical Hong Kong scenes that contained easter eggs for the truly local audience. We made sure the iconic red pants were front and centre so that the labels are uniform and recognisable. Additionally, we developed an easy to understand and adaptive design system for them to apply to bottles, cans etc. as they continue to expand across Asia.
Impact
The visual identity overhaul gave Young Master the opportunity to introduce a new canning line, which has been sold in multiple areas across Asia. They have also succeeded in securing new collaborations with well-known brands such as Sanrio.