01 — The Brief & My Contribution

MICO pairs a bold, playful personality with tequila-making traditions rooted in Jalisco. Its official story emphasizes Blue Weber agave, jimador-led harvesting and small-batch craftsmanship. The monkey is a recognizable part of the brand’s identity. Brand context: MICO official website ↗

The client sought a packaging refresh with a more youthful appeal. My contribution within the Optimist team focused on packaging design: translating that direction into a consistent label system and presenting its application across the bottle family. The design needed to balance an expressive personality with a clear reading order.

THE STARTING POINT

Existing Packaging

The curved bottle, vertical MICO wordmark and seated monkey establish the brand’s recognizable identity.

The redesign carries the character forward while introducing a more prominent illustration, a new geometric frame and a consistent hierarchy across the label family.

Reposado · Packaging reference
Photo: Quality Liquor Store ↗

02 — Creative Concept: Culture, Craft & Character

The creative idea was to bring MICO’s playful character and Mexican roots into one visual language. The monkey remains the personality of the label, while the circular geometric pattern behind it connects that personality to culture and the craft of tequila.

The pattern draws on Mexican cultural graphics and the coa de jima, the tool used to harvest agave. These two references bring together visual heritage and agricultural labor. The design interprets them as a contemporary geometric backdrop, rather than a literal illustration of the tool or a reproduction of a named historical symbol.

The result balances an expressive, youthful character with a structured cultural reference. Repeating the same character-and-circle composition across the labels creates a recognizable family, while changes in color distinguish the expressions. This breakdown explains the completed artwork’s creative logic.

03 — Building the Label System

The label uses four recurring elements to organize recognition, personality and product information. The completed labels below show how these elements work together as a consistent system.

04 — One Family, Four Expressions

The four expressions represented in the redesign share the same hierarchy, character placement and circular motif. Color distinguishes each variant while the repeated structure holds the family together: orange for Blanco, turquoise for Reposado, magenta for Añejo, and black with gold tones for Cristalino.

05 — Reposado: Packaging in Context

The Reposado presentation carries the turquoise label into a sunlit setting with agave leaves and mineral textures. The restrained background keeps the bottle as the focal point, connecting the packaging’s contemporary color palette to the natural ingredient behind tequila.

Developed at Optimist for MICO, this packaging redesign remains unreleased. The flat label artwork documents the design system; the bottle image presents its intended visual direction.