The single malt whisky that started it all.

‘Glenlivet’ literally means ‘The Valley of the smooth-flowing one’ and refers to the River Livet which flows through the distillery estate and which is the water source for the whisky. The previous thistle mark, which stood proud for more than fifty years, had reached an impasse. A thistle is synonymous with Scotland, but is also a cliché. Something more distinctive to The Glenlivet was needed to represent the brand and to be universally understood.

The River Livet passes under an old smuggler’s packhorse bridge as it flows through The Glenlivet estate. “Hundreds of years old and still standing strong, the bridge helped early bootleggers distribute their whisky undetected”, says Tom Myers, senior designer on the project. “It is this bridge that was identified for the new signifier, spiralling out from the centre of a perfect circle.”

To help bring this vision to life SomeOne worked with long-time collaborator and master craftsman Christopher Wormell. By crafting the signifier in linocut, Christopher was not only able to add that vital handcrafted touch, but also made it robust and detailed enough for modern application.

SomeOne founder David Law says “Sometimes in design, as in whisky, distillation is key. What was great about this project was trying to capture a individual sense of place in such a constrained canvas that could be understood by everyone. It is literally the brand’s essence. Small can be clever too.

Alongside the new signifier, the wider brand identity of the Glenlivet was also considered. SomeOne refreshed this two-hundred-year old brand and give one of the most renowned names in whisky a strong, confident new look. Gone are the additions, decorations and adornments from previous iterations. Central to the new identity is simplicity, colour and form.

The roll-out of the identity has just begun, with the brand being refreshed over the coming months.