Design Study lines up drink units

Kent consultancy Design Study has created a new alcohol unit labelling system for six leading drinks companies. Research by industry body The Portman Group had found that millions of customers are unaware of their own alcohol consumption levels.

Four different logos have been developed to indicate how many units of alcohol an individual product contains.

A leaflet entitled “Think About Drink”, created by Think 1 Design, has also been re-launched by the Health Education Authority to provide additional information for drinkers.

The manufacturers and distributors to use the new system are: Seagram, Allied Domecq, Bacardi-Martini, Diageo, Matthew Clark and Whitbread. Taken together, more than 150 brands will feature the new icons.

Design Study designer Chris Groom explains: “It was important for the companies to get alcohol units on to products and they needed a standard way to get this information across.”

Seagram Distillers chairman Kneale Ashwell says: “This information, along with that provided by the HEA, will help people make more informed decisions about responsible alcohol consumption. We think this represents a great start to what we hope will become an industry-wide initiative.”