Kristinus Winery

Art Direction: Kiss Zsombor
Photographer: Szendeff Lőrinc
Creative Agency: Urban Communication
Creative director: Heiszler Ákos
Project Type: Produced, Commercial Work
Client: Kristinus Wine Estate
Location: Kéthely, Hungary
Packaging Contents: Wines
Packaging Materials: Paper

Kristinus Wine Estate is a Hungarian winery, situated on the slopes of the southern shores of Lake Balaton. The winery offers a complex wine experience for its visitors. Besides a large number of wine varieties, Kristinus welcomes its guests with cuisine which will appeal to fine-dining enthusiasts, a unique cinema, event venues and a wine hotel.

In 2015 the winery decided to renew its corporate identity, emphasizing the values of a modern, innovative and up to date winery that has rich traditional roots and the exceptionally unique natural environment of the Lake Balaton. Following the company’s philosophy – the identity must show these values to the customers, especially those explorer types, who are open to discover new things.

The visual key – the rotated shape of Lake Balaton symbolises a keyhole that allows us a fresh insight into the world of Kristinus Wine Estate. The changing images in the “keyhole” suggest us different feelings and perspectives of the Balaton. It can communicate specified messages to the customers in connection with the products, the winery, the region etc.. Further advantages of this motif that everybody knows the shape of the lake, so it gives us an idea where the wines are coming from and it is a quality certification – as Balaton is one of the best wine regions of Hungary. The other goal is that nobody uses the shape rotated vertically, so this unique way we turn that common icon into an abstract form.

The logo uses a custom made typography especially designed for Kristinus winery. The basic font is a semi condensed modern (grotesk) type – a linear antiqua, called: Dax. It was deconstructed and redesigned in some parts. All the letters are following the same engraving method, have a characteristic cut in 32˚. It was important to save the readability of the word but turn it into a memorable emblem with an experimental spirit. The subtitle (“borbirtok”-”wine estate”) is using the finest traditional antiqua font, called: Trajan, balancing the modern typography with a classical part. This font was the first latin capital type in history coming from the ages of the Roman Empire (first used on the Trajan’s column, Rome b.c.:113). In Hungary we have some ruins of the Roman Empire at Lake Balaton as well, so the use of a Latin font is reasonable in this case. The logo suggest a modern look and a balanced feeling with some classical elements in a traditional structure aligned to the centre. Flexibility was a main criterion, that’s why the structure was designed for multifunctional use. It gives possibility to write any kind of subtitle under the line (e.g.: name of the wines) plus we can mark the different functions of the wine estate (hotel, restaurant etc..) with different shapes in the background.

What’s Unique?
The visual key – the rotated shape of Lake Balaton symbolises a keyhole that allows us a fresh insight into the world of Kristinus Wine Estate. The changing images in the “keyhole” suggest us different feelings and perspectives of the Balaton. It can communicate specified messages to the customers in connection with the products, the winery, the region etc.. Further advantages of this motif that everybody knows the shape of the lake, so it gives us an idea where the wines are coming from and it is a quality certification – as Balaton is one of the best wine regions of Hungary. The other goal is that nobody uses the shape rotated vertically, so this unique way we turn that common icon into an abstract form.