Founders’ Pale Ale – Founders Brewing Company
This label has caught my eye many times because of it’s use of a painting by Alphonse Mucha. I’m not going to pretend I am well versed in Alphonse Mucha’s work, but I did recognize this artwork because of a royalty-free Art Nouveau collection I used to design with back in the day. This painting was originally used for a play called Gismonda in 1894. Since Mucha has long past his work can be used without copyright issues. Now a couple of things strike me as odd about this label, for example the large branch that the women is holding. It’s not barley, as one would expect on a beer label, it’s actually a palm leaf. I think the designer just really liked the ideas of using an Art Nouveau painting for a design. It’s an American brewery so the French reference is lost and the content doesn’t really align with what the beer is. The typography is fun, however I feel like it’s not quite finished. More time could have went into cleaning up the letterforms instead of just letting the serifs stick out and overlap all willy nilly. That’s just my humble opinion. Hey, it’s a pretty label, it has nice color and from what I hear it’s a great beer. I look forward to trying one someday.