The Apátúr Brewery, jointly owned by Széchenyi István University and the Benedictine Priory of Győr, is developing a product line of beers with flavours such as coffee, quince, Italian spices and grape. The unique branding for this line was created by the University’s graphic design students, and the design chosen by the jury may be featured on the bottles in the future.

Széchenyi István University places a strong emphasis on ensuring that students acquire not only theoretical but also high-level practical knowledge. This goal is evident in the University's Design Campus programmes, where students often participate in real-world projects. For graduating students in the Bachelors and Masters graphic design programmes, this semester provided an opportunity to design the branding for the future Campus product line of the Apátúr Brewery.

Zsolt Horváth, the brewmaster, highlighted that, just like fine wine, good beer also requires excellent branding, making design a critical part of sales. “It’s particularly advantageous that the University has this expertise, allowing us to involve young talents in product development. The students presented exceptionally creative, unique concepts, and I was pleasantly surprised by how well they incorporated feedback from the brewery tour, including some aspects I had only hinted at. Several designs could have won, and some would even hold their own in an art exhibition,” he explained.

The Apátúr Brewery plans to produce the new beers in four varieties:

• Campus Coffeum, a black beer with higher alcohol content, aged longer and flavoured with coffee.
• Campus Cydonia, a sour beer fermented with both yeast and lactic acid bacteria, resulting in a champagne-like dry taste, complemented with quince.
• Campus Italics, featuring Italian-inspired flavours.
• Campus Vitis, a grape-flavoured beer.

These beers are intended to be sold in bottles as part of a tasting set.

For the limited edition branding, 21 students developed designs, and the jury selected Nikolett Turay’s concept as the winner. Her beer labels are noted for their humour and playfulness.

“I was thrilled with this assignment, as it also taught us how to build a relationship with a client. I particularly enjoyed visiting the brewery, where we gained valuable insights into the business, production process and product. For the four flavours, I created individual stories, thinking that this illustrative approach would complement rather than disrupt the brewery's brand,” Ms Turay explained.

Zoltán Halasi, associate professor at the University's Department of Graphic Design and the project supervisor, mentioned that businesses frequently approach the Design Campus with various assignments, often related to product branding. However, in this case, he proposed the idea to Apátúr Brewery. “Students appreciate receiving real feedback from clients,” he noted. “It’s also crucial that they work on projects like this during their studies, as it helps them understand how to create a cohesive and unique visual identity that is functional in the real world.”

Nikolett Turay has created a unique graphic world for the beer labels. (Photo: András Adorján)