The archive · Design & Visual · Product decision · 2025
Helan draws the Helan Mountains into the letterforms of its own wine wordmark
Blackbow rebuilds 'HeLAN' as mountain silhouettes — ridgelines form the letters and the lowercase 'e' nods to the Yellow River.
Helan · Blackbow
What it had to solve
Helan, a Chinese wine named for the Helan Mountains, needed an identity centered on the region's rock formations and the Chinese phonetic core of 'HeLAN' — one that could make the ethos of 'mountain spirit infused into wine' visible.
How it works
Helan is a Chinese wine built on the rock formations of the Helan Mountains, and even its Latin spelling carries that landscape: the Chinese phonetic core of 'HeLAN' is where the mountains and the name meet. The identity task was to make that connection the whole design rather than decorating a label with scenery.
Blackbow's solution reconstructed artistic typography through mountain silhouettes: the undulating ridgelines of the Helan range are infused into the letterforms of 'HeLAN', so reading the brand means seeing the terrain. The lowercase 'e' does double duty, improving phonetic clarity while serving as a quiet metaphor for the Yellow River's nourishing presence beside the range.
The mountain-inspired typographic system then extends into branding applications, giving the wine one visual world instead of a logo plus some images. The work amplifies the Eastern ethos of 'mountain spirit infused into wine' and is archived in D&AD's Brand Identity Refresh section as an aesthetic icon for Chinese wine.
Why it lands
- The name 'HeLAN' already echoes the mountains phonetically, so typography could carry the geography instead of a separate illustration.
- Ridgeline letterforms make the place the hero of every reading of the wordmark.
- The lowercase 'e' earns its place twice: clearer phonetics and a Yellow River metaphor in a single stroke.
- Extending one typographic system across the identity gives the wine a coherent visual world rather than a one-off logo.
What it did
The wordmark makes place and product legible in one glance: the label spells its name in the silhouette of the mountains the wine comes from. It visually amplifies 'mountain spirit infused into wine' and positions the identity as an aesthetic icon for Chinese wine.
What you can take
When the name already contains the place, put the place inside the letters: an identity that builds geography into the typography retells the origin story every time the brand is read.
Since then
The identity makes the label itself the origin story: every bottle spells 'HeLAN' in the silhouette of the mountains the wine comes from, which is what lets the design stand for Chinese wine rather than just package it. Blackbow applied the system across branding touchpoints so the mountain motif remains the same from wordmark to application.
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