“Ginger Me Slowly” is a mead made with dark avocado honey and ginger. I explored several concepts before landing on the final design. Initially, I researched songs by redheads, aka “Gingers”. This yielded a few potential ideas but none of them seemed strong enough, so it was back to the drawing board. Glenn proposed using a song called “Ginger Me Slowly” by Somi. I played around with a design concept of a “slow boat to China” that included a Chinese Junk boat sailing through ginger islands. We liked the visual style, but there wasn’t a strong connection to the song, so I experimented further. The artist Somi had family roots in Uganda and Rwanda. This sparked an idea to include a Batik-like style which is prevalent in the region. Taking a creative cue from iconic African imagery, I took the ginger root and placed it on the nose of a rhino in place of its horns. The rhino was walking slowly through the Serengeti plains with shadows of small trees, a batik pattern, and watercolor textures. This design was “almost there”. We learned that Somi’s song “Ginger Me Slowly” was inspired by the Lagos slang expression “to ginger someone” meaning to spice someone up and make them feel good. The song is a gentle percussive ballad. The label needed to reflect gentleness, and a rhino didn’t fit that description (although it was a nice use of the ginger root). As I researched further, I learned that Giraffes are considered natures gentle giants. BAM! That was it!

The design includes batik patterns and watercolor textures with a group of giraffes walking gently across the Serengeti plains. Metallic silver textures mimic dust rising from the footsteps and create a nice energy to the still life. Colors are warm and faded symbolic of years in the sun (which sets in the background as a watercolor swirl).