Role: Identity, Product Design, UI |
Project: Brand Refresh |
Agency: Foundry119 |
The Challenge
The client wanted to portray Big Storm as an “approachable” craft beer, targeting drinkers who valued the taste and quality of craft beer, but without alienating “everyday drinkers” who may not be familiar with craft beer. Another agency had pitched designs without success. We determined that the current logo needed a redesign, as well as website, beer cans and other marketing collateral.
The Solution
Typography and photography were carefully chosen to appeal to craft beer drinkers, but without being too heavy-handed. Some of the “craft beer” elements are: mixed typography, illustrative line work, photography of beer drinkers and hops. I chose several fonts that had sub-families evoking a rough, handmade look mixed with a script font evoking traditional tattoo lettering and chalkboard art. These elements were used sparingly, mixed in with a more traditional serif font, a sans-serif body font and a clean organized layout to keep the overall look from being too extreme. To speak to craft beer aficionados, I included a carousel that showcased each beer in rotation, with a pithy headline and evocative descriptive text.
Identity
Although I do not normally design identity/branding or collateral material, I wanted to take a shot at a few concepts. The client wanted to include a lightning element, so I incorporated a few versions of simple, conceptual lightning elements into several design ideas. The font in the first concept was inspired by the Budweiser logo. I chose this to help support the “approachability” of the overall design concept and balance out the “craft beer” look-and-feel strong in the other elements of the design. The client ultimately chose one of my logo designs and it appears on their beer cans and marketing today.
Final Concept
PRODUCT Design
The client wanted to carry over their shield element in some way. The double sheild gave the layout more dimension and interest, and the illustrations within the shield evoke weather-related themes in keeping with the weather-related beer names. The design, layout and typography, evoke current trends in retro and illustration design, also with a nudge toward tatooing.