We had the distinct pleasure to interview award winning designer Ximena Ureta about their original and creative Wine Packaging design work. Ximena Ureta is an award-winning communication designer, that makes our world a better place with their original wine packaging works.
Ximena Ureta ("XU") answered Design Interview ("DI") questions about their award-winning work Butterfly Acrobat Wine Packaging. Interview questions prepared by Frank Scott.
XU : Butterfly Acrobat is an act of freedom and hope, a poetic response to the pandemic. It is also a tribute to circus artists around the world, to jugglers, magicians, fire eaters, contortionists, acrobats, equilibrists, trampolinists, trainers, comedians, and musicians who have dedicated their lives to the art of entertainment, as well as a tribute to women and their nature, telling graphic stories where women are the expression of exceptional, magical, and surprising acts.
XU : The tale of Butterfly Acrobat Amazing Edition is the fantasy of a woman who can fly during her circus act. Mara is the mysterious butterfly acrobat, thousands of butterflies flock in a colorful torrent in the air under the stage lights, their flower-shaped wings open and close to the rhythm of music and using their delicate silk threads as they fly among the audience. Ladies and gentlemen, we would like to present the most delicate and amazing act in the whole world. Through this poetic fantasy I wanted to build a space where women can do extraordinary things like heroines do with their reality.
XU : Create three wine packaging solutions with acts starring women who love their nature and who are protagonists of surprising fantasies. This is one of them.
XU : About a year, from the creation of the script, the design of the main character as a winged woman, the definition of the typographic families, the choice of different types of butterflies that star in this circus act, the creation of a mockup for the presentation of the project, the development of originals for reproduction and all the technical tests of printing and finishing, up to the reproduction of the final copies.
XU : In wine packaging we can now talk about an increasingly wide diversity of topics, which also invites us to communicate a message that will last longer. Even though it is true that we can talk about nature and the world of wine, there are many vineyards in the world that also talk about other things. I am very interested in growing the thematic proposals in wine packaging. I like the idea of labels becoming little themed posters that we can enjoy. I found it very interesting to create a female story, where women make their dreams come true and perform extraordinary feats. This project was created with absolute creative freedom, in order to demonstrate the benefits of CCL Label's digital technology and the neatness of its finishes.
XU : Commercial rights are available to companies that are interested in this project.
XU : I found it motivating to create a packaging with a very different personality, where the circus provides fonts invested with a personality, as well as the colors red and gold. It has been interesting to write a fantasy using words as well as choosing each visual element that participates in this label. Create a large wrap-around tapered label, with great technical complexities. Looking for new creative spaces where I can tell fictional stories of women who have dreams.
XU : I really like the work of Philippe Lechermeier and Rebeca Dautremer available in their book "Forgotten Princesses". As well as "The Butterly Workshop" by Gioconda Belli. I believe they've been very motivating for me.
XU : The target customer for this wine packaging are wineries which want to make a special edition with designs with a great personality, as well as paper label companies wanting to show the attributes of their papers under multiple printing and finishing challenges.
XU : There are labels with circus scenes but my great motivation was to tell fictional stories with women as protagonists. This is something that I'm not seeing as yet.
XU : Butterfly Acrobat tells the story of Mara, a woman who can fly in her circus act together with her butterflies. It is also a tribute to women who overcome their adversity and reach their dreams. I thought it represents very well everything that is supposed to be communicated.
XU : I have worked with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe illustration.
XU : I find it fascinating to write short stories that I can illustrate, and then transfer them to wine labels.
XU : Yes, in the choice of the final printing finishes, I consulted CCL Label technical specialists, who advised me on the choice of resources to make the main character, the dress, the flowers, the typographies on the background rhombuses and the butterflies stand out.
XU : This work was born as a high-complexity graphic sample for CCL Label Chile, where it was important to face technical challenges that would show great technical execution. This company also has branches in other countries around the world.
XU : The artist has investigated the history of the circus and, specifically, of Cirque du Soleil, one of the world's best-known entertainment companies which filed for bankruptcy because of the impact of the pandemic. Its most emblematic acts were reviewed, as an inspiration to find the right graphic language. Butterflies, their shapes, the symmetry of their wings have also been studied, further influencing the design of this label. The balance of the circus and the symmetry of the butterflies. Impossible not to cite Gioconda Belli's book "The Butterfly Workshop" Editor: Barbara Fiore.
XU : In conventional projects it is common to get a brief from my clients with a conceptual and strategic requirement of the project. This is the starting point to understand and define my creative territory. In this piece of work, there was no creative request but rather a request for a design that would be designed graphically and conceptually by me and where the execution would have high-complexity technical resources. This condition makes this project personal.
XU : This work contains a lot of me, I built it with great precision, with all my feminine might and with all the passion that designs mean for me. I always select my best works during the year to be presented at A' Design Award & Competition. I believe that it is a very well executed piece of work and I thought it would be well received.
XU : I am lucky to have commissions where I have full freedom to create. This has been happening for a while, so I have had to reflect on the concepts and graphic languages that I would like to use. When these projects arrive, it is necessary to construct certainties where freedom is enormous. I think that the management of freedom has been a challenge and a learning process during the creation of this packaging.
XU : I would just like to thank this contest for valuing my work and making it visible. I have been presenting my projects to this contest for several years and it has always been very rewarding. Thanks a lot.
