In 2020, Little Bang Brewing Co from South Australia won the coveted Orora Golden Can Trophy at the GABS Can Design Awards.
The 2020 winner of GABS Can Design Awards
Celebrating the best in craft beer, Little Bang won with their stunning ‘Face Inverter’can design. The GABS Awards recognises the importance of great design and visual communication in a brand’s efforts to engage customers and stand out in the craft beer market.
The Orora Golden Can Trophy award is considered the ‘gold standard’, celebrating the most creative people in this exciting industry. As part of their prize, Little Bang received a free set of printing plates from Orora Beverage, to be used in their next cans print.
Little Bang brew beer, wine and gin varieties that are sold across Australia. After growing their business from their garage into a national craft brewing brand, Little Bang is renowned for their out-there designs and creative take on craft beverages.
Introducing the 'Little Banger'
Since winning the GABS Can Design Awards in 2020, Little Bang has partnered with Orora to bring a newly designed and developed craft beer can, the ‘Little Banger’, to market. Little Banger is a Super Session Pale Ale.
Recently, we interviewed Little Bang CEO, Ryan Davidson, about the partnership and how the GABS Can Design Awards has changed their approach to aluminium can design.
Tell us about Little Bang
We have been growing since the day we started in Fil's garage, but our values have always been about fun, creativity and inclusivity. We love to explore and experiment, and we want as many people as possible to feel welcome and included in that journey with us.
What are the most important requirements for you in choosing a cans partner?
Someone who takes the time to hear about our particular ideas and desires for the product (we love to push the boundaries of what's possible) and can tailor a solution to our needs.
What impact did this win and the inclusion in the GABS Can Design Awards six pack have in Face Inverter popularity?
Face Inverter is now our biggest seller outside of South Australia. This is due in no small part to the national exposure we received through the GABS Awards.
You have made significant changes in your can packaging, can you tell us how your engagement with Orora has changed canning for Little Bang and your approach to can designs?
Printed cans are much more cost effective per-unit to purchase than a can with a label, but the setup can be quite prohibitive for a small business. To be awarded that (free printing plates) is a terrific boost for us, and essentially propels us forward a year or two in our plans for that product.
From the outcome of the 2020 GABS Can Design Awards, how has your partnership with Orora further developed since working alongside Orora’s Decoration Centre of Excellence team?
We had a fantastic experience with Orora and we’ve moved most of our business to them, they’re great to deal with and I can see us doing more and more together in the future.
Tell us about your inspiration behind the newly designed ‘Little Banger Super Session Ale’ can that was developed in conjunction with Orora Beverage?
Coming from a digital process on our labels, with millions of colours to choose from, we maxed out the limited number for printed cans very quickly. Through consultation with Orora we managed to get a great result on our new artwork and were even able to use the silver of the can substrate as a bonus colour in our design.
Often craft brewers don’t produce the mass volume required to meet the minimum order quantity for custom decorated cans, so they apply printed labels to either a plain white, black, or silver can, which we call ‘silver bullets’.
Little Bang cans were produced with their logo printed around the neck of the can, then a label was applied below. This process allowed Little Bang to meet the minimum order of cans and use those cans for multiple products by applying different labels to their generic cans.
Orora’s Design Centre of Excellence helps customers like Little Bang transition their artwork from a label to a custom decorated can. We work closely with customers to transfer detailed or complex printed label artwork to direct printing on the can." Andrew Morwood, Decoration Centre of Excellence
There are no limitations when creating a printed label, however with can decoration, we use six spot colours to create their unique branded design. This means that the design process requires strong communication and supported direction from the team at Orora’s Decoration Centre of Excellence to achieve the best possible outcome for our customer and their brand when moving from a printed label to a decorated can.
The Orora team worked closely with Little Bang’s design team to help bring their brand to life and the end result is outstanding!
This Little Banger design really stands out on the shelf and sets a very strong example for what can be achieved with careful planning, design and creativity using six colour print.
