Malta India is a carbonated malt beverage made in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, with a history of 90 years in the market as Puerto Rico’s most iconic and loved non-alcoholic beverage. Throughout the years, the label has changed many times, but has always carried a distinct look that has created a legacy by itself beyond the drink itself.
We faced several challenges when approaching this rebrand. The first was that we needed to bring the design to the attention of a new and younger audience in a highly competitive, saturated and dynamic category - Malta India shares an aisle with both juices and famous carbonated beverages. The other challenge was to reimagine this iconic image while honoring the legacy Malta India has embedded in Puerto Rican culture. For many, this brand evokes family gatherings, childhood memories and local traditions. We kept this as our banner during our design process, while aiming at refreshing the brand image by making it bright, dynamic and attractive. We started our process not only with extensive historical research, but also with consumer research and focus groups, to ensure we were capturing the brand as best as possible.
Muuaaa’s team of designers, led by Chief Design Officer Miguel Miranda, deconstructed each of the previous interpretations of the brand, identified the key elements that identify the brand, and constructed a new take on the classic image. Three key components were identified and redesigned to bring the brand into the modern age: the typography, the icon, and the “shield”. For the typography, we drew inspiration from a letter “A” used in one of the brand’s labels from the 1960s, and from it we traced the angles that created the rest of the custom typography. The icon is a letter I with the Cervecera “C” as the superscript dot, was also updated to mirror these new angles. The “shield” shape, which was originally an arrowhead from the Tainos that inhabited Puerto Rico before colonization, was repurposed as a “superhero shield” to both encompass the other two logo elements and to connect with younger consumers. Hues of yellow and red have always distinguished the Malta brand, so we chose a more vibrant red as a primary color, and used the previous burgundy as a secondary color.
Muuaaa’s team of designers, led by Chief Design Officer Miguel Miranda, deconstructed each of the previous interpretations of the brand, identified the key elements that identify the brand, and constructed a new take on the classic image. Three key components were identified and redesigned to bring the brand into the modern age: the typography, the icon, and the “shield”. For the typography, we drew inspiration from a letter “A” used in one of the brand’s labels from the 1960s, and from it we traced the angles that created the rest of the custom typography. The icon is a letter I with the Cervecera “C” as the superscript dot, was also updated to mirror these new angles. The “shield” shape, which was originally an arrowhead from the Tainos that inhabited Puerto Rico before colonization, was repurposed as a “superhero shield” to both encompass the other two logo elements and to connect with younger consumers. Hues of yellow and red have always distinguished the Malta brand, so we chose a more vibrant red as a primary color, and used the previous burgundy as a secondary color.
Muuaaa’s team of designers, led by Chief Design Officer Miguel Miranda, deconstructed each of the previous interpretations of the brand, identified the key elements that identify the brand, and constructed a new take on the classic image. Three key components were identified and redesigned to bring the brand into the modern age: the typography, the icon, and the “shield”. For the typography, we drew inspiration from a letter “A” used in one of the brand’s labels from the 1960s, and from it we traced the angles that created the rest of the custom typography. The icon is a letter I with the Cervecera “C” as the superscript dot, was also updated to mirror these new angles. The “shield” shape, which was originally an arrowhead from the Tainos that inhabited Puerto Rico before colonization, was repurposed as a “superhero shield” to both encompass the other two logo elements and to connect with younger consumers. Hues of yellow and red have always distinguished the Malta brand, so we chose a more vibrant red as a primary color, and used the previous burgundy as a secondary color.
