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Beverage packaging design.

Independent specialist packaging design studio based in Melbourne, for beverage brands across Australia. Beer, cider, functional beverage, RTD and spirits-adjacent categories.

Start a project →See James Boag's case study
ModelFounder-led
Beverage clientsLion · Asahi Beverages
Response2 working days

What is beverage packaging design?

Beverage packaging design is the discipline of designing packaging and brand systems for beer, cider, RTDs, spirits, wine, and functional beverage products.

It combines heritage brand management, range architecture, on-premise application design, and retailer category-review readiness into a system built to win at Dan Murphy's, BWS, Coles, and on-premise.

Morice&Co. designs beverage packaging in Melbourne with direct experience across heritage rebuild (James Boag's, for Lion) and premium tier launch (5 Seeds Cider, for Asahi Beverages).

01Categories

Six beverage subcategories. One studio.

Packaging design across six beverage subcategories, from heritage rebuilds to premium tier launches. Beer and cider carry named client proof. The rest draw on the same shelf-first discipline.

Beer

Heritage lagers and craft ranges. Bottle, can and tap formats. Recognition-value auditing that protects trust equity while modernising a system that's drifted.

James Boag's · Dan Murphy's, BWS, national rollout

Cider

Premium and mainstream tiers. Range architecture built to carry a single SKU into a full portfolio without losing shelf confidence at either end.

5 Seeds Cider · Coles, Dan Murphy's

Functional & Better-For-You

Kombucha, kefir, adaptogenic soda, hydration mixes, functional beer. The fastest-growing FMCG beverage segment, where function has to read as a design constraint, not a claim tacked on.

Category research: see the studio's functional beverage guide

RTD & Canned Cocktails

Canned spirits, hard seltzer, pre-mixed cocktails. Fast-turn NPD packs designed to stand out in a crowded, fast-moving fridge set.

Same shelf-first discipline built across beer and cider

Spirits & Premium Mixers

Bottle architecture, closure specification and label finish for spirits and premium mixers, where finish quality carries the price justification.

Category depth across premium beverage pricing tiers

Wine & Low/No Alcohol

Wine label systems and the fast-growing low and no alcohol category, which has to read as a genuine occasion choice rather than a compromise.

Full-range architecture experience
02Retail experience

Work built to Australian beverage retailer specifications.

Each beverage retailer has its own compliance process, its own artwork spec, its own category-review calendar. On-premise adds its own application needs on top. Category depth means the studio has learned every one of them.

Dan Murphy'sBWSColesIndependent liquorOn-premise
03Selected work

Beverage packaging built on heritage and shelf confidence.

James Boag's protected 140 years of Tasmanian heritage through a system re-set. 5 Seeds built a premium tier that could carry a single SKU into a full range. Both now run nationally.

Beverage · Heritage Rebrand

James Boag's.

140 years of Tasmanian heritage protected through a system re-set, not a rebrand. Unified across 3 SKUs and rolled out nationally through Dan Murphy's and BWS.

Read the case study
Beverage · Premium Tier Launch

5 Seeds Cider.

A premium tier built to carry a single SKU into a 5-SKU range, launched nationally through Coles and Dan Murphy's.

Read the case study
See all case studies
04The framework

Shelf Logic. Three distances, one test.

Every pack designed by the studio is pressure-tested at three distances before it leaves. The framework holds up through category-review cycles and retailer approval processes.

5m

Silhouette, colour, category cue.

Bottle-shop fridges and shelving are scanned from further back than a grocery aisle. At five metres the shopper is reading silhouette and colour to sort beer from cider from RTD before they've read a single word.

2m

Brand mark, ABV, pack format.

At two metres the shopper is comparing brand mark, format and pack size across a family of SKUs, and checking ABV and standard drinks against the occasion they're buying for.

30cm

Finish, closure, print quality.

Beverage is a category where finish carries the price justification. Foil, embossing, closure weight, label substrate. At thirty centimetres, craft quality signals whether the premium is earned.

05Pricing

What beverage packaging design costs.

Fixed fees, scoped to the brief. No hourly rates. A written proposal is delivered within five working days of an initial conversation.

$8k–$15k
Single SKU beverage pack refresh
Existing brand, updating one product. Label or pack redesign, print production direction, retailer-ready artwork.
$30k–$60k
Full brand + range across 5–10 SKUs
Ground-up beverage brand or heritage rebuild, packaging system, range architecture across formats and pack sizes, guidelines, launch collateral.
$60k–$150k+
Category-leading rebrand or national rollout
Full brand system, deep range architecture, retailer rollout materials for Dan Murphy's, BWS and Coles, on-premise application design, brand book, photography direction.
Note. These are indicative bands. Every brief is different. Heritage complexity, range depth, on-premise application scope and retailer rollout materials each add discrete scope. Read the full beverage pillar article: Functional beverage packaging design.
FAQCommon questions

Everything you might want to ask about beverage packaging design.

Eight of the most frequent questions Morice&Co. gets asked before a beverage packaging brief. If yours isn't here, get in touch. The answer is usually a short email away.

  • Beverage packaging design is the discipline of designing packaging and brand systems for beer, cider, RTDs, spirits, wine, and functional beverage products. It combines heritage brand management, range architecture, on-premise application design, and retailer category-review readiness into a system built to win at Dan Murphy's, BWS, Coles, and on-premise. Morice&Co. designs beverage packaging in Melbourne with direct experience across heritage rebuild (James Boag's, for Lion) and premium tier launch (5 Seeds Cider, for Asahi Beverages).

  • Morice&Co. designs beverage packaging that ships through Dan Murphy's, BWS, Coles, independent liquor retailers, and on-premise (bars, pubs and venues). Every pack is designed against each retailer's compliance and print-production requirements, and against on-premise application needs like tap decals and point-of-sale.

  • A single beverage SKU pack refresh typically starts around AUD $8,000 to $15,000. A full ground-up beverage brand or heritage rebuild plus packaging system across five to ten SKUs sits in the $30,000 to $60,000 range. A category-leading rebrand or national rollout across Dan Murphy's, BWS and Coles, with on-premise application design, ranges from $60,000 to $150,000 and beyond. Fixed fee, scoped to the brief. No hourly rates.

  • A typical beverage packaging project runs eight to sixteen weeks from brief to production-ready artwork. Timelines flex with range depth, manufacturing and substrate lead-times, and retailer category-review calendars. Beverage launch windows are often tied to seasonal category resets, so timelines usually build backwards from those dates.

  • Beverage retailers run tight category review windows and expect packs ready for slot evaluation, not concept presentation. Morice&Co. designs with the retailer's review timeline in from the brief. We deliver retailer-ready artwork that can be slotted into a planogram conversation without a finishing pass.

  • Both. The discipline changes. Premium tier asks the pack to communicate craft, provenance, and earned cost. Value tier asks the pack to communicate trust and category fit without trying to look more expensive than it is. Same pack design fundamentals; different jobs to be done.

  • Yes. Functional beverage, kombucha, kefir, adaptogenic soda and hydration mixes, is one of the fastest-growing FMCG categories, and the same pack-architecture discipline built across beer and cider applies directly: clear function-forward hierarchy, ingredient transparency, and shelf standout against a crowded set of new entrants. Read the studio's full guide to functional beverage packaging design for the category breakdown.

  • Yes. Australian alcoholic beverage packaging carries mandatory standard drinks labelling, pregnancy health warnings, and country-of-origin requirements, on top of each retailer's own artwork specifications. Morice&Co. builds these requirements into the pack architecture from the brief, not as a compliance pass at the end.

Related reading
NotesFunctional beverage packaging design.NotesHeritage rebuild. When to keep, when to burn.Case studyJames Boag's · heritage rebrand for Lion.Case study5 Seeds Cider · premium tier launch for Asahi Beverages.
Currently taking briefs · Q3 and Q4 2026

Bring the brief. We'll bring the shelf.

Written proposal within five working days. Fixed fee, scoped to the brief. Response within two working days on every enquiry.

Start a project →