We were afraid of artificial intelligence – especially the idea that it might make those of us who love graphic design obsolete…
But then it came time to redesign our Pigeon Hill Brewing labels – and we realized just how incredible AI could be!
The Shifting Sands IPA rebrand started in fall 2022. At that point, we started out simply planning to refresh the label for that one beer.
Initially, we thought to ourselves “we’ve got an original Nintendo-inspired motif, so the logical next step is to take some inspiration from the Super Nintendo.” And yet that didn’t seem to quite do it – so we figured we’d jump forward a little more and take inspiration from the Nintendo 64. Once the brewer character designs were done, we knew that we loved the homage to the brewers, but it still just didn’t feel right.
And right around that time, AI image generation programs started rolling out – which made us realize we had an entirely new tool to craft a world of inspiration. Initially, the idea of designing beer labels with AI was daunting – Simply learning to build prompts that yielded useful results was a chore in an of itself! Eventually though, things started to come together. After hundreds of dead ends – and a few laughter inducing results – we had a handful of images that were starting to show some of the feeling we had envisioned. From there, we took different aspects from the hundreds of AI concepts we liked and merged them together by hand – the old fashioned way!
We began using ChatGPT pretty early on to assist us – nothing we post is ever entirely written by ChatGPT, but almost all of our beer descriptions, beer names, social media posts, press releases, etc have at least some small degree of help from artificial intelligence. Pigeon Hill might look like a big brewery from the outside, but the reality is that we are still a small local operation with a team that wears all the hats. With AI there to help us, we can truly accomplish more with the resources available to us.
In roughly March of 2023, we added Midjourney to the repertoire, and it was a game changer. Derek, our in-house designer, was understandably nervous about incorporating AI into the workflow, but what we discovered is that it doesn’t take away from our abilities; instead, it opens new doors! Artificial Intelligence adds efficiency in many areas – crafting base content for us to build on – and, in the case of labels, it allows our imaginations to run wild.
Derek has always had a knack for taking Michael’s wild ideas and creating a visual representation (and, of course, he injects his own great ideas as well), but that comes with limits. Taking a wild idea that is infused with a specific style and emotion can require many iterations and a lot of time (especially for some of Michael’s wild mid-century modern art concepts for Socibowl). Now, we utilize Midjourney as our launch point – we brainstorm all of the ideas for a label, hone them into the favorites, and start pumping out hundreds of generations. As Midjourney creates image after image, we are able to find tune our ideas and – in turn – have Midjourney do the same. Once we’ve found the right “path,” we can then take the AI-assisted “foundation” and begin the process of handdrawing and modifying it to fit exactly what we had in mind.
In essence, it allows our creativity to run wild in ways that were never before possible, while simultaneously speeding up the process.
As we were redesigning the Shifting Sands IPA label, we realized that we weren’t just in love with the new can – we’d created something that could be parlayed to every other core brand. After ten years, we (as individuals) and Pigeon Hill (as a craft brewery) had experienced growth and transformation. Even if we are still misfits by nature, it was time for our labels to grow up with us.
In tackling the redesign of our labels, we thought of it as a maturation – but a maturation that allowed us to embrace our misfit nature and stay true to who we are. We’ve figured out how to put on dress shirts when we have to, but we’ll always be goofballs at heart; we wanted our new labels to capture the same feeling for our beers.
Beyond just cooking up wild ideas, we started thinking about art – and the distinct personality that each beer has (at least in our crazy minds). What type of art would that beer want? And what type of artist would the beer want to draw it? When you are designing beer labels with AI to assist, the sky is truly the limit.
For Salted Caramel Porter (aka S.C.P.) and Oatmeal Creme Pie (aka O.C.P.) we knew the look should still be somewhat goofy and whimsical – maybe a little abstract, just like the beers!
For Beach, Please, a beautiful summer day spent on the beach in Muskegon had to be at the heart of the label. Capturing that Lake Michigan beach vibe in a vibrant yet simple style seemed to perfectly embody the liquid within.
And No Diggnity… well… a fun 80’s vibe, still inspired by the Goonies, was the only thing that made sense.
Going forward, we can’t wait to continue letting our beers personalities shine – with the help of a little artificial intelligence. We hope you’ll enjoy the ride as much as we do!
