I identified the artwork as "scholarly" almost immediately, but had a little trouble finding the adjective to go with it. Pipe smoking is a bit of an old-fashioned activity these days, I'm afraid, so I started looking for words that connoted "old-fashioned." I finally hit upon "fusty" in the thesaurus.
"Fusty" hit me right away because it has two meanings. One is indeed "old-fashioned" and the other is "old and decaying" and I thought of the comments my wife and family make when I'm smoking a tobacco strong in Latakia or perique. I wanted the label to be a bit whimsical, so I went with "Fusty Scholar" which in itself could mean that the tobacco is old-fashioned/decaying or the scholar himself is. The double meaning was especially satisfying.
It was then a matter of designing the label itself, which didn't take too long. It's not especially elaborate, but I think the best graphic designs, especially for packaging, rely on simplicity. What you see below is the final result, with a weathered or distressed look since I placed it on some apparel available at The Erudite Outlet, my online t-shirt shop.
Any comments or criticisms are most welcome.
Cheers!
- Bob
