Bottoms Up: the Typography of Boulevard Beer and it's Brewery

UP

BOTTOMS

THE TYPOGRAPHY OF BOULEVARD BEER AND IT’S BREWERY

BY GRACIE

WILLIAMS

UP

BOTTOMS

THE TYPOGRAPHY OF BOULEVARD BEER AND IT’S BREWERY

BY GRACIE WILLIAMS

BOTTOMS UP

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INTRODUCTION Next time you’re in your local bottle shop, look down the seemingly endless beer aisles and note what stands out.

Chances are, you’ll see groups of familiar labels and immediately know what the brand is. You may have noticed this before on your own without direction, but it’s worth observing more closely. Public lettering is a form of language that contributes to how we identify and even respond to a specific environment.

When people think of Boulevard Brewing Co., the majority of them probably think of the beer they produce rather than the brand they have built. The majority of typography in a brewery like Boulevard consists of beer labels, wayfinding, and instructional lettering, but also involves information and fun callouts.

People tend to gravitate toward “stylish” things that have nice colors and good type, and that’s exactly how Boulevard began designing their ways. On the walls, framed papers hang, showcasing Boulevard of the past.

The consistent typography creates a cohesive atmosphere, even in the small instances of signage. Instead of just words that communicate, the typography begins to become a form of communication itself.

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R B

ING UP W E E S T.

198 9

A

BUSINESS CHAPTER 001

During the summer of 1984, John McDonald, the future founder of Boulevard Brewing Company, was vacationing in Europe. He wandered into a bar specializing in Belgian beers. He tried one, then another and another.

Amazed by the variety, the aromas, and the flavors, he was hooked.

Back home in Kansas City, Missouri, John couldn’t stop dreaming about those Belgian beers. But dreaming was all he could do, because American beers of the time

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were homogenous and unremarkable. He couldn’t shake the memory of those amazing beers, and he began to consider the possibilities. He started learning how to homebrew beer and visited other breweries. He put together a business plan, sold his house to raise money, and set out to find the rest of the resources he would need to start a brewery. But John didn’t have to look far to get started; he lived and worked in an old brick building on Southwest Boulevard.

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It took John more than a year and every bit of the money he’d raised to retrofit the building, find the equipment — including a vintage 35-barrel Bavarian brewhouse — and get everything up and running. Finally, in November 1989, the first keg of Boulevard Pale Ale was ready. John loaded it into the back of his pickup and delivered it to a restaurant just a few blocks away.

For the first year the brewery produced only draft beer. The small crew worked long hours brewing, kegging,

cleaning, and then selling, convincing bar and restaurant owners to put Boulevard beers on tap. Still, John knew he needed bottles. But there was no money, and bottling lines weren’t cheap. Rejected by bank after bank, one institution finally saw promise in his vision and made a loan that enabled Boulevard to install a very small, very used bottling line.

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“

I WANT TO MAKE BIG BEERS, A VARIETY OF BEERS, BEERS WITH COLOR & FLAVOR & A R O M A & B O D Y, BEERS FOR REAL BEER LOVERS.

“

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JOHN MCDONALD

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GROWTH &

EXPANSION When John built his brewery deep in the heart of a century-old urban neighborhood, he hadn’t worried about outgrowing it. But it happened.

The original business plan called for someday selling 6,000 barrels a year. By the third year sales passed 7,000 barrels, and continued to climb. Boulevard began selling its beers in neighboring cities and states; it had reached its limit, and a decision loomed. Now, the smart move was to relocate to a new site with plenty of room.

But the brewery was tightly woven into the fabric of the city, and the Boulevard team members were committed to its continued revitalization.

So in 2006, a $25 million expansion project brought a new building with a 150-barrel brewhouse, packaging halls, offices and hospitality spaces. For years John had been eager to drive more experimentation and innovation, but the continuing growth of Unfiltered Wheat Beer and Pale Ale meant the brewery’s limited resources were devoted to the existing line-up. Now, with a new brewhouse, the team’s creative energies were unleashed.

The Smokestack Series was launched, featuring an ever-evolving array of even bigger, bolder beers.

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A large portion of the type found in Boulevard, specifically in the visitor’s center and beer hall, is handwritten. This allows for ease of change and alteration.

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ON

TH

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E

P

H T A TO

BEER! CHAPTER 002

Wayfinding and navigation constitues a small, yet highly visible category of typographic design. These information systems are inportant in guiding people through the physical environment while also enhancing their understanding and experience of the space. For it to be successful, it must be planned out to be easily conveyed.

This type of signage can be static or passerby, which influences the typeface choices and treatment of the typography. In order to design this ef-

fectively, knowledge about the materials and fabcrication used is a helpful tool. Their characteristics give limitations to how the type will be affected and ultimately behave in its final form.

In high-stress or often busy and crowded environments, effective wayfinding systems contribute to a sense of well-being, safety, and security. For this, people need visual cues such as maps, directions, symbols, or confirmation signage to help guide them to their desired destinations.

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The Bottle Shop in the gift shop offers a wide selection of labels and designs with their year-round, seasonal, and limited release beers for mixing and matching to build a custom six-pack.

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The reason we become so desensitized to type so much is because typography is not always meant for us.

This is not entirely neccessary, but it is important that it is taken seriously by the people who need it. Because of this familiarity, our minds recognize certain type as important and other type as frivolous. Without this filtration system, our daily lives would be even more inundated with typography than what we have already adapted to become accustomed to.

Type aimed at the public takes front and center and remains open and generally large and bold for easy and quick viewing of a typical passerby. Many of the obstacles in the way have probably been placed there for the purpose of security and safety, which adds to the visual flow and consistency as well.

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“

IT’S

r e a l ly

TOUGH

TO MAKE A SIMPLE

“

BEER.

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JOHN MCDONALD

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AFTED R C IN

THE

MIDWEST CHAPTER 003

Back in 1984, one of the beers that so captivated John’s imagination was Duvel, among the most famous and iconic beers of all time. So when John was approached by Michel Moortgat, president and fourth generation leader of Duvel Moortgat, he listened.

In 2014, Boulevard became part of the Duvel Moortgat family, a collection of artisanal breweries dedi-

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cated to the highest expression of the brewers’ art. Boulevard remains committed to its original mission, pushing boundaries and helping to re-define American beer.

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“

SINCE

1989,

EVERY LABEL A N D TA P HANDLE HAS BEEN DESIGNED &

DRAWN BY

“

HAND. BOULEVARD BREWING CO.

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Boulevard Brewery ranks as the 12th largest craft brewery, and the 18th largest active brewery in the United States.

Before the sale of Anheuser-Busch to InBev in 2008, Boulevard was the largest independent American brewery in the state of Missouri.

In 2013, when Boulevard was acquired by Duvel Moortgat Brewery, terms of the deal were not disclosed, but was estimated that the sale price exceeded $100 million.

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“

WE

can

S TA N D BEHIND

“

our

BEERS.

BRENT ANDERSON

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MORE ROOM TO

ROAM

In Fall 2011 Boulevard began a $3 million expansion of its original brew house at 25th Street and Southwest Boulevard in Kansas City. The expansion required Boulevard to remove six 105-barrel fermenters in order to replace them with eight new 300-barrel fermentation tanks.

The expansion allowed the brewery to produce an additional 35,000 barrels of beer a year, increasing capacity by about 20 percent.

In order to accommodate the new tanks, the original brew house at 25th Street and Southwest Boulevard will need to be raised about 35 feet.

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IN

CONCLUSION

The roots of Boulevard’s beer is based in Belgian beers. The visuals found in Boulevard Brewery coorelates especially to it’s foundation and startup as a Brewery. Their mission aims to produce fresh, flavorful beers using the finest ingredients and the best of both old and new brewing techniques. From the beginning phases to its steady evolution, the visual identity and public typography of Boulevard is a written language that parallels the aspect of the Brewery.

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BOTTOMS UP

GRACIE WILLIAMS

VISC 402: Design as Author, Fall 2017 Professor Patrick Dooley The University of Kansas

TOOLS

This book was typeset in Univers Bold Condensed and Avenir Next.

It was designed in Adobe InDesign and photos were edited in Adobe Photoshop. All photographs taken with a Canon 7D.

THANK YOU

Special thanks to the Boulevard Brewing Company for letting me invading their space so many times, and going on multiple tours, and snapping hundereds of photographs.

SOURCES

www.boulevard.com Strom, Stephanie. “Belgian Brewery Buys U.S. Maker of Craft Beers.” The New York Times, 17 October 2013 Beer News. “New Look, Same Great Beer.” Boulevard Brewing Company, 21 March 2017 Becker, Dan. “Interview With Jeremy Danner of Boulevard Brewing.” The Full Pint - Craft Beer News, 17 February 2014 White, Tom. “Rebranding a Midwest Icon with Boulevard Brewing.” The Hop Review – Beer Interviews, Photography & Travel, 26 August 2016

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