Malanka (meaning “Lightning” in Belarusian) is very bright and memorable image, present in various traditional tales and legends. What’s more, ethymologically the word “malanka” is loosely connected to “mlyn” (meaning “mill”) and “muka” (“flour”), as well as “maloć ziernie” (“to mill the grains”), which brings this term closer to brewing and baking.
CLIENT Malanka is a craft brewery from Minsk, Belarus, which was started in 2019. It was created by 3 homebrewers — Jury Plieskačeŭski, Viačaslaŭ Radzivonaŭ, Andrej Vasin. "Who are we?
For several years we have been pushing our homebrewing skills in brewing all the craziest beer styles: from lichtenheiner and fruit milkshake IPAs to ultra-thick imperial stouts and authentic ales of spontaneous fermentation. We get our inspiration from the experience of American craft brewers, and that’s why we decided to open up a microbrewery and throw ourselves into experiments with recipes. All brewing equipment is totally DIY: we designed our brewhouse, wired the control panels, improved the fermenters, installed the cooling system. And though it’s our first steps in professional brewing, we aim to brew extraordinary beer in accordance with best modern and historic practices."
BOTTLE LABEL In the label, I decided to use the logo as the main design element. I used black and white. Firstly, the task was to develop a design in minimalism, to abandon all popular designs of beer labels. Also monochrome will significantly reduce printing costs.
PHOTOGRAPHY I also planned to shoot in minimalism and use a minimum of colors. In the photo studio, I was inspired by a crack in the floor. It reminded me of the trail of lightning, or even the lightning itself. The photos turned out to be a little sharp, unusual, cold. I focused on the color of the bottles and labels.
