Photoshop Session

Jose Cuervo

These are design ideas for the packaging of the popular Mexican tequila brand: Jose Cuervo. I love the central design as it encompasses several different aspects of Mexican culture, ranging from the agave plant to the 'Aztec Stone of the Sun'. The logo is obviously placed in the centre so people know the tequila they are buying is the best brand out there. I also really like the subtle browns used in the palette, they work really well with bright yellow. This design was created for Mexico's 200 year independence.

Below are some pages of development that went into designing the Jose Cuervo bicentennial label. Shown are the simple grid layout to the logo, the mood board and possible colour schemes.

Mexicana Footwear

I came across this unique approach to footwear, combining casual trainers with bright Lucha Libre inspired designs. I love the colours used and how they continue into the physical aspects of the shoes. For example the laces are bright yellow and the soles are a mix of black, white and red. The illustrations on the shoes above are of a duelling pair of Luchadores, most probably taken from the film 'Las Momias de Guanajato', which starred legendary wrestlers El Santo, Blue Demon and Mil Mascaras. More information on this film can be found here. After a little further research I found the poster below and came to realise that the artwork on these shoes has been taken straight from there. Also found below are images of another set of shoes designed by this artist. However with these shoes I am not sure where the artwork originated from.

Wrestle Pets Publication

Description: This book of Lucha Libre Wrestle Pets includes 20 dog and cat wrestler portraits along with corresponding humorous biographical information. It includes the original 15 from the trading card set plus five rookies. Each book has been digitally printed on 80 lb Cougar Opaque text and handsomely handbound here in the Dancing Cat Bindery with yellow 100% cotton thread in the pamphlet book style.The cover is Classic Columns Solar White over Red Pepper. A purple metallic foil stamp image of the Wrestle Pets logo adorns the cover label.



I really like this idea as it combines something completely ordinary, domestic pets, with something totally out of the ordinary, Lucha Libre characters. Below are a few examples of the caricatures that are found within the book. I like the illustrative style and the colours used, but I especially appreciate the information that the designer has put forth helping me gain a greater understanding into its creation.

Blue Demon Poster

I found this poster and thought the combination of Lucha Libre, great design and interesting print technique was perfect for this project. The information that came with the image was as follows:

"The last lucha I saw, one of the wrestlers jumped out of the ring, grabbed a metal chair and whipped it at the other wrestler, sending a ton of chairs flying all over the place. This was the inspiration for my Blue Demon themed lucha libre poster.

This is a hand printed poster promoting one of the Lucha Libre events at Club Asalir in Milwaukee. Metallic silver ink printed on 19"x25", 100lb Nightshift Blue French Paper."

I love the detail when you inspect the design closely and the effort that must have gone into hand printing this. I also like how the colours have been inspired by the mask worn by the legendary Luchadore 'Blue Demon'.

Below is the design in full:

Lucha Libre

The packaging below has been designed to contain a series of Lucha Libre action figures. There are three separate designs in total with each one featuring its own unique wrestling character. To be completely honest the designs are not the most creative. This could be down to the use of white, green and red, the colours of the Mexican flag, which although has obvious connotations to the country, is a slightly obvious palette choice. The designs are bold enough to remain memorable yet do somehow fall flat in the creativity stakes. It is obvious that the illustration of the 'luchadores' face is the same on all three boxes with just a different fill colour, the quickest way out. I like the three names and how the figures inside the box have their own personalities, it's definitely an inspiration for my project.

Below is some basic information on the sport of Lucha Libre and the social importance it has in Mexico.

History: In the early 1900s, professional wrestling was mostly a regional phenomenon in Mexico until the Mexican Wrestling Enterprise was founded in 1933, giving the sport a national foothold for the first time. As television surfaced as a viable entertainment medium during the 1950s, wrestling was broadcast across the nation, subsequently yielding a popularity explosion for the sport.

Styles: Luchadores are traditionally more agile and perform more aerial maneuvers than professional wrestlers in America. Lucha libre has several different weight classes, many catered to smaller agile fighters, who often make their debuts in their mid-teens. Lucha libre is also known for its tag team wrestling matches. The teams are often made up of three members, instead of two as is common in the U.S.

Masks: These have been used dating back to the beginnings of lucha libre and have a historical significance to Mexico in general dating to the days of the Aztecs. Early masks were very simple with basic colors to distinguish the wrestler. In modern lucha libre, masks are colorfully designed to evoke the images of animals, gods, ancient heroes, and other archetypes, whose identity the luchador takes on during a performance. Virtually all wrestlers in Mexico will start their careers wearing masks, but over the span of their careers a large number of them will be unmasked.

Mini-Estrella: Lucha Libre has a division called the "Mini-Estrella" or "Minis" division, which unlike North American midget professional wrestling is not just for dwarves but also for luchadores that are short. Originally the limit for the Mini division was 5 feet.

Popular Culture: Outside of Mexico Lucha Libre has also crossed over into popular culture, especially in movies and television. In film there is the 2006 Jack Black comedy 'Nacho Libre' and in television there was a animated series titles 'Mucha Lucha' and an episode of 'Angel' was dedicated to a family of Luchadores. The sport has also featured heavily in many fighting video games such as: Tekken, Street Fighter and Virtua Fighter. Nike has designed a line of lucha libre inspired athletic shoes.

Below is a piece of design that I collected when I was in Mexico. The match itself was incredible and the atmosphere was beyond excitable. At the time I had no idea how big of a match this was, however in hindsight and after some research it really was. Mistico and Mr. Niebla just happen to be two of the biggest names in the sport right now.

Rotary Printing

Within this class of printing there are three different major methods, and these are: offset lithography, rotogravure and flexography. In this post I will research a little further into these processes and will hopefully in the future find an example of each one with a Mexican twist.

Offset Lithography, one of the most common ways of creating printed matter. A few of its common applications include: newspapers, magazines, brochures, stationery, and books. There are many different pros and cons to this process, a few of which are listed below.

Pros:

• High image quality, produces sharp and clean images and type more easily than letterpress.
• Quick and easy production of printing plates.
• Longer printing plate life than on direct litho presses because there is no direct contact between the plate and the printing surface.
• Cost, the cheapest method to produce high quality printing in commercial printing quantities.

Cons:

• Inferior image quality compared to rotogravure or photogravure printing.
• When developed plates are not cared for properly they tend to become sensitive and quality deteriorates.
• Time and cost associated with producing plates and printing press setup. As a result, very small quantity printing jobs are now moving to digital offset machines.

Below is an example of offset lithography specific to Mexican design. It is a piece of promotional art from the 1968 Mexico Olympics.

Rotogravure, in this process the image is engraved onto a copper cylinder because, like offset and flexography, it uses a rotary printing press. The vast majority of gravure presses print on rolls of paper, rather than sheets and print everything from narrow labels to 4m wide rolls of vinyl flooring. One of the most interesting items this kind of printing is used for it banknotes.

Pros:

• Plates are made from copper and therefore are more durable, ideal for longer runs or tougher substrates.
• Puts down a denser coverage of ink, therefore prints usually last longer at highest quality.

Cons:

• All images, including type and "solids," are actually printed as dots, and the screen pattern of these dots is readily visible to the naked eye.

Flexography, is basically an updated version of letterpress that can be used for printing on almost any type of substrate including plastic, metallic films, cellophane, and paper. It is widely used for printing on the non-porous substrates required for food packaging.