For the third and final project in the portfolio, I wanted to choose a project that is representative of Brody’s more recent work. This particular project is a commissioned identity design for Dom Pérignon an expensive brand of vintage champagnes. In contrast to the other projects in the portfolio, this work was done by a team at Brody’s Research Studios, now named Brody Associates. Lionel Massias and Marion Laurens worked extensively on the new identity design, while “Neville Brody was responsible for overall art direction on the project.” This team structure fits directly with Brody’s penchant for collaborative, multidisciplinary design.

According to a press release from the studio, “the brief was to give the brand more elegance, glamour and appeal whilst retaining the luxury cues for which it is well known.” Brody does this by making subtle changes to the brand’s the visual style, all while keeping the familiar brand logo and bottle shape. More specifically, the studio “created new color codes to signify Dom Pérignon vintages.” These color codes included the colors black, silver and a shiny metallic pink. When asked about the direction of the project, Brody commented that generally there is a “ perception of Dom Pérignon as a slightly old-fashioned gentleman’s champagne, or a Beverly Hills party drink.” Brody also noted that the market for the product was aging, so they needed to use “some subtle levering to move it into a more modern space.” With this in mind, Brody wanted the new designs to retain the classic, sophisticated reputation of the product while also appealing to slightly younger clients. The Studio “overhauled Dom Pérignon’s packaging, including a shift from the traditional horizontal ‘chest’ packs to a vertical design that opens in the middle. This [was] to increase shelf standout among competitor brands.” It took about one year for the studio to “get the finish of the packaging exactly right, with the right silver, weight, and touch.” For Brody, the key to the new design was in the details. He said, “ Dom Pérignon is such a pared-down brand, with very little story or myth, that it is all about the exact detail. If you get the detail wrong then the whole thing doesn’t work.”
For me, it was really interesting to see how Brody’s work evolved over time. In his career, there seems to be a general trend; at the start, Brody was largely influenced by the punk rock culture of rebellion against the establishment. It is awesome to see how these influences carried over even into his more commercial projects such as this one.

References

Neville Brody’s Research Studios Creates New Look for Dom Pérignon://designtaxi.com/news.php?id=7663

Neville Brody rebrands studio: “Clients weren’t quite clear on what we were offering”