What’s In A Wine Label? Thoughts On Changing Chinese Perspectives

The following is a blog contributed by enoVate designer Kelvin Jin. Once again he brings his unique Chinese design perspective to our research.

这些酒标是开放前普遍存在的，我们看到的是历史，虽然不是很酷，也不是很优雅，可是这里面分明有着国人的精神：多样化的自信，这句话可能比较可笑，一个封闭的国家怎么可能多样化？可以的，虽然比较狭隘，你看这些酒的原料，有葡萄，大米，高粱，谷子，但更有猕猴桃、桂花、樱桃、桂圆、苹果、橘子这些我们现在都少见的口味，这是一种多元，再就是设计样式也是多样的，字体和图形元素丰富，表达的也很准确，至少当时的设计师对自己的设计是很自信的，可以看的出来。

我们已经进步了，已经成长了，然而，在快速拔高的同时，我们的设计是不是也在沦为含混不清的定位？是不是也在混沌中迷茫着，这些酒标在提醒着我们，也许，好跟不好一直在伴时间轮番轰炸我们的认知，当时认为好的，改革开放后觉得好土，现在迷茫了，又觉得里面有很多不错和经典的… … 我怀念那种些自信涌动的过往。

These wine labels were commonplace before China’s opening up. What we’re seeing is history. It’s not cool or elegant but it clearly has the spirit of our countrymen: the confidence of diversity. This phrase is quite funny, how can a closed country have diversity? Despite being slightly narrow, it can. Just look at the ingredients of these wines, there’s grape, rice, sorghum, millet, and even more rarely seen these days are Chinese gooseberry, sweet-smelling osmanthus, cherry, longan, apple and tangerine flavours. This multifaceted nature is also in the diversified types of design. The abundance of the type and image elements are expressed very precisely, at the very least we can see the confidence the designers had in their designs.

We’ve advanced and matured, but despite this, in a time of high speed and high stakes, can it be that our designs have been reduced to an indistinct and unclear level? Are we just gazing on through the chaos? Perhaps what these wine labels remind us is that good and bad are always there to shape our cognition through thick and thin. These wine labels for example, back then I thought they were good but after the opening up I felt they were uncouth. In today’s haze, I once again feel they are well done and classic…I cherish these turbulent ups and downs of self-confidence.