I beg to differ

Ahh...designers love ripping apart other designers. It's what we do. Criticize. Since being featured on the Dieline, I've received numerous emails asking me to submit more work to other blogs and even a a request to buy three bottles of the tequila, Diva Maya, which is very flattering and uplifting.

But on the post itself, a few people have started to question the illustrations are a rip off of the great Si Scott's style. Well kids, I was looking at Si's work as point of reference, but did the illustrations myself because the very tight budget required so. The line drawing screen prints perfectly, and as this is the technique we'd be using for the label, the style seemed to perfectly match the concept too - flowing liquid and nature. Bottom line is, I drew them and if the much-copied style of Si is recognized, then it's mission accomplished as far as I'm concerned.

While I would've loved to work with Si on this project, doing the illustrations myself was fun but hard work. We draw inspiration from everywhere and everyone and if we were limited to only what our God-given skills were, we'd not be very creative would we? I'm all for finding the right people for the job, but won't let lack of budget prevent me from achieving my goal. That's how I have all my best projects which include product design Clearoil and photography look book Voodoo.

Looking at the bottle before and after, the design has moved on heaps, and yes, they are now left with an ownable style in a highly competitive market. Unlike Absolut and Johnnie Walker, the tequila does not have a distinct bottle and needs to stand out on shelf amongst all the amber liquid generic bottles. Coloured bottles with the three animals - with the recognizable droplet style illustration, aims to do just that. Client is happy, sales improve, exporting begins - Job done!