For years, the non-alcoholic beverage world has marketed itself on the back of a single promise of less \u2013 less alcohol, less harm, less risk. The industry has also relied heavily on aspirational stats about declining drinking, and much has been said about Gen Z\u2019s so-called sobriety.<\/p>\n
Yet reporting from The Financial Times<\/em> and Vogue<\/a><\/em> suggests the opposite \u2013 younger people are drinking more, just differently.<\/p>\n Now, the conversation seems to be tilting away from the idea of abstinence \u2013 or the sense of sacrifice associated with sidestepping alcohol \u2013 and towards different pleasures; not simply avoiding harm but choosing a new kind of ritual or identity. And branding is central to that reframing.<\/p>\n In the past, NA brands dressed like alcohol to be taken seriously, but today, designers are both remixing, discarding \u2013 and in some cases, cautiously reinterpreting \u2013 the visual codes of alcohol branding.<\/p>\n The goal is no longer to mimic, but to carve out presence by positioning NA not as a substitute, but as a culture in its own right.<\/p>\n Duzi Studio\u2019s brand for Collider<\/p>\n When creating the visual world for Collider, a non-alcoholic beer brewed with mood-boosting nootropic and adaptogenic ingredients, London-based agency Duzi Studio<\/a> was careful to avoid the expected clich\u00e9s of beer branding.<\/p>\n \u201cNon-alcoholic beer design often leans on familiar beer cues like heritage typography, traditional layouts, and craft language to signal credibility and draw parallels to their alcoholic counterparts,\u201d says co-founder and director Ella Donald.<\/p>\n \u201cOr, it leans into the craft beer space, with cues that can feel more cartoonish or garish.<\/p>\n \u201cWith Collider, we wanted to challenge these defaults, choosing not to mimic established alcoholic beer aesthetics but instead to build a standalone visual identity that felt, quite literally, \u2018worlds apart\u2019 from conventional tropes.\u201d<\/p>\n Collider encourages a shift in our age-old mindset and relationship with alcohol. To reflect this, the team found a fitting metaphor in retro-futurism, which explores the tension between the past and the present.<\/p>\n Duzi Studio\u2019s brand for Collider<\/p>\n This offered not only an interesting foundation on which to build Collider\u2019s visual world, but also a symbolic lens through which to frame the brand\u2019s core promise.<\/p>\n \u201cThe retro-futuristic world brought a sense of idealism, curiosity, and optimism, mirroring the way Collider invites people to explore a new kind of socialising,\u201d says Donald.<\/p>\n Duzi Studio swapped heritage storytelling for more contemporary and fantastical influences, signalling a new future rather than old lineage.<\/p>\n Faded gradients, geometric forms, and sci-fi references evoke technological progress, while the cans are seen levitating over craggy, lunar landscapes.<\/p>\n \u201cCollider\u2019s drinking experience is focused on mood, energy, and memorable moments rather than serving as a proxy for alcohol,\u201d says Donald.<\/p>\n \u201cWe art-directed a photoshoot that purposefully positioned the product in out-of-this-world environments rather than next to a beer glass, or in an environment historically associated with beer.\u201d<\/p>\n Duzi Studio\u2019s brand for Collider<\/p>\n Collider shows how boldly an NA beer can depart from category clich\u00e9s when leaning on world-building and narrative instead of imitation.<\/p>\n iessi, an alcohol-free aperitif, approached the same challenge through restraint, with AD-REM<\/a>\u2019s founder Florent Gomez Siso using typography to anchor a distinctive visual language.<\/p>\n Siso was keen to give iessi an identity that didn\u2019t rely on hand-me-down visual codes, but instead defined its own space. \u201cCreating a typographic system around a custom typeface seemed to be the best way to ensure a unique and ownable voice for iessi,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n That led to IESSI SANS, inspired by the work of French painter, poster artist, and type designer Cassandre, especially his work for Dubonnet. The custom typeface now dominates the labels that wrap around each bottle.<\/p>\n AD-REM\u2019s identity and label design for iessi<\/p>\n Siso also used the form of the label and bottle to bend the rules. \u201cAlcohol labels often evoke tradition, while bottle shapes are designed to suggest elegance and luxury,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n \u201ciessi takes the opposite approach \u2013 its label is unapologetically modern and chic, while the modest shape of the bottle reflects a certain handcrafted-ness.\u201d That ties back to the artisanal nature of the drink, inspired by founder Nicolas Maiarelli\u2019s Friulan nonna and her homemade amaro recipe.<\/p>\n The identity is imbued with gravitas and a sense of confidence \u2013 a very deliberate decision that sets iessi up as an iconic brand, and not a fresh-faced entrant to the market.<\/p>\n \u201cI was careful not to design iessi as \u2018the new cool kid in town.\u2019 It needed to feel relevant, but also timeless,\u201d says Siso.<\/p>\n AD-REM\u2019s identity and label design for iessi<\/p>\n The result is a look that is ownable and distinctive, which has already set the brand up for success. \u201cThe identity for iessi has become a reference point because it wasn\u2019t trying to please the aesthetics of non-alcoholic aperitifs or the conventions of alcohol. Instead, it established its own language \u2013 one I now see other brands beginning to borrow from,\u201d says Siso.<\/p>\n Collider and iessi represent the boldest end of the spectrum, discarding alcohol\u2019s inherited codes to create identities that feel autonomous.<\/p>\n But not every NA brand needs to make such a clean break to be culturally relevant. Some, like Tom Holland\u2019s non-alcoholic beer BERO, approach the challenge differently \u2013 looking squarely at beer\u2019s visual traditions and reworking them for a new context.<\/p>\n In its identity for BERO, CENTER<\/a> chose not to reject alcohol\u2019s design cues outright, but to embrace their familiarity and remix them with modern clarity and a lifestyle-driven edge.<\/p>\n CENTER\u2019s identity and packaging for BERO<\/p>\n The result is a brand that feels credible within the beer category, while also asserting that NA no longer has to apologise for what it isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom day one, we knew we didn\u2019t want BERO to feel like a compromise. Too often, NA beers are branded around what they aren\u2019t, as if drinking one is a sacrifice,\u201d says founder Alex Center.<\/p>\n \u201cBut BERO isn\u2019t \u2018not beer.\u2019 It looks, smells, and tastes like beer, because it is beer. So instead of leaning into absence, we set out to build a great beer brand, period.\u201d<\/p>\n CENTER used heritage codes as scaffolding but stripped away the nostalgic excess, recontextualising them for a modern audience.<\/p>\n CENTER\u2019s identity and packaging for BERO<\/p>\n The split colour blocking on the cans still nods to tradition with metallic gold, but offsets it with rich tones of green, burgundy, and cream; a visual shorthand for BERO\u2019s duality \u2013 modern and classic, culture and craft, taste and experience.<\/p>\n Typography plays a similar role. The primary typeface \u2013 Arizona Flare by Dinamo Type Foundry, with its flared stroke endings \u2013 brings a crisp contemporary edge, far removed from the florid lettering of vintage beer labels. Even the fish emblem is a push towards modernity, used symbolically rather than as a heraldic flourish.<\/p>\n Where most alcohol brands root their identity in terroir and heritage, BERO taps into culture. \u201cThe crest of Kingston upon Thames, Tom\u2019s hometown, gave us our fish emblem, but it wasn\u2019t about geography. It was about values like humility and strength,\u201d says Center.<\/p>\n CENTER\u2019s identity and packaging for BERO<\/p>\n Even within the non-alcoholic market, not every sector is evolving at the same pace. While beer and aperitifs have proved fertile ground for experimentation, wine, a smaller category<\/a>, has been slower to embrace change.<\/p>\n Wine is bound up with terroir, provenance, varietals, and aging \u2013 all deeply tied to tradition. In the NA space, shifting too far from those visual codes risks undermining perceptions of quality and authenticity.<\/p>\n \u201cAmong all the categories venturing into the non-alcoholic space, wine may be the most traditional, with major stakes around quality perception,\u201d says F\u00e9lix Mathieu, chief strategy officer at Lonsdale<\/a>, the agency behind the branding of N\u00e9phalia, the first NA wine range by Castel Fr\u00e8res.<\/p>\n \u201cThe challenge, therefore, is to blend certain classic wine codes \u2013 to reassure \u2013 while at the same time infuse a sense of freedom that gently guides consumers toward new rituals.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause let\u2019s be realistic \u2013 when you bring a bottle of wine to a dinner, even, and perhaps especially, if it\u2019s No-Lo, you still need to uphold a certain standard, with an elegant and prestigious design.\u201d<\/p>\n Lonsdale\u2019s brand for N\u00e9phalia<\/p>\n In creating N\u00e9phalia\u2019s identity, Lonsdale studied the inherited playbook of wine branding, but carefully stretched convention.<\/p>\n Instead of defaulting to minimalist cues to evoke sobriety, they introduced a gestural brushstroke \u2013 a stylised grape cluster \u2013 as the centerpiece of the brand. The mark conveys aroma, energy, and enjoyment, celebrating the experience that N\u00e9phalia delivers even without alcohol.<\/p>\n The team also noticed how many NA wine brands plaster a giant \u201c0%\u201d or \u201cALCOHOL-FREE\u201d across the label, reinforcing a sense of absence.<\/p>\n \u201cEven if I\u2019m looking for a non-alcoholic wine on the shelf and need clarity to make a quick choice, I don\u2019t necessarily want to be reminded every day that I\u2019m drinking something \u2018without alcohol,\u2019\u201d says Mathieu.<\/p>\n Lonsdale\u2019s brand for N\u00e9phalia<\/p>\n \u201cWhat truly matters is the quality of the product and my emotional connection to the design of an object that lives in my kitchen or on my table.\u201d<\/p>\n To counter this, Lonsdale turned the word \u2018ZERO\u2019 into an emblem, reframing it from a blunt statement of lack to a symbolic mark.<\/p>\n Through its stylistic deviations from the norm \u2013 even in a sector with little appetite for change \u2013 Lonsdale\u2019s work for N\u00e9phalia proves that echoing alcohol\u2019s codes is no longer the go-to.<\/p>\n The most exciting NA brands of tomorrow will be the ones that turn to storytelling to create their own languages, rituals, and identities. \u201cThe next wave of NA branding won\u2019t be about copying conventions, it\u2019ll be about world-building,\u201d says Center.<\/p>\n Lonsdale\u2019s brand for N\u00e9phalia<\/p>\n \u201cPeople want to buy into brands that expand their lifestyle, not just their palate. The NA brands that succeed will create entire universes of meaning, rituals, symbols, and stories.<\/p>\n \u201cDesign will be less about packaging and more about culture creation.\u201d<\/p>\n Donald agrees, adding that brands need to build lasting value by crafting creative universes rather than relying on borrowed archetypes.<\/p>\n \u201cInstead of positioning NA drinks as imitations, strong storytelling is what will give them the space to craft their own stylistic languages, meanings, and emotional associations,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cAs more brands invest in imaginative design and narratives, the NA category will be able to claim distinct visual languages that aren\u2019t tied to alcohol mimicry.\u201d<\/p>\n