When Chops Meet Hops: “Flights Of Fury.” Classic Kung Fu Cinema Complements Six Equally Punchy IPAs.

File under: Things you don’t know you do until someone asks…

Lompoc Brewing: Will you make a Kung Fu movie / beer poster?

Design by Jen: Um, okay!

Event details were provided and research commenced – not only on the specific movie, but also on the Kung Fu genre and its posters. I hit upon the idea to bill it as a double feature with the IPA taster portion titled “Flights of Fury.” We’ve been using red and yellow in recent projects, (Lömpocker Kölsch and Proletariat Red cans), so it was a natural palette choice to add interest and depth. I’m happy to say the place was packed for the double feature! Cheers!

Zwanzig Fest: Celebrating Twenty Years of Lompoc Beers

It’s not everyday a business celebrates twenty years. It might be considered even more noteworthy when it’s a small one that started during the early days of the craft beer movement in Portland. When it came time to acknowledge their milestone, Lompoc Brewing had an all-hands-on-deck meeting to plan a multi-day celebration spanning all of their pubs. At this point, my own relationship with Lompoc had been going for 4+ years so I knew my task would be developing the graphics promoting the events, but that made it no less flattering to be a part of such an important anniversary.

Owner Jerry Fechter’s first beer back in the day was a Märzen Ale called “Erst” (first in German). Head Brewer Bryan Keilty planned to brew a new beer inspired by Erst aptly named Zwanzig (twenty in German if you’re keeping score) which brought about the name of the week of celebrations – Zwanzig Fest. Oh, and Bryan wanted to bottle some Zwanzig as a surprise for Jerry, so we were going to need a label design too.

So I had a name, some dates, some background, and a tight timeline since I myself was heading to Germany (those numeric refreshers came in handy). We agreed it made sense to use the Bald Guy silhouette since it’s recognized across the brand, appears on all packaging, and it was Jerry’s anniversary too after all. From there I decided to keep it straight-forward with the traditional Lompoc colors of black and yellow (Jerry hails from Pittsburgh and supports its teams) and have some fun with those letters. How often do I get to work with two Zs anyway?

Eventually all the elements found their places, everyone loved it, it was secretly adapted into a label, the events were promoted and well-attended, and Jerry was happily surprised with his bottled and labeled beer. Prost!

You can learn more about Lompoc’s twenty years in business on my friend Ezra’s blog – Lompoc Brewing: Staying Fresh and Relevant at 20.

Six of One, Two Dozen of Another: Lompoc Brewing 6-packs and Cases

My work for Lompoc Brewing has spanned events, a collaboration, a label, and a bout with a surly marine mammal. Through it all we work really well together while managing to have a lot of fun resulting in solutions we are all proud of. However, I never cease to be surprised and flattered when a client brings me in on a high-level project. In this case, Lompoc’s move to package their flagship IPAs in 6-packs – a first for any of their beers.

Pamplemousse and C-Note IPA have been available in 22-ounce bottles featuring labels designed by WAAMCo for a few years now (large bottles in the images). My task – translate those labels into 6-pack carriers and cases. After a few meetings and research visits to supermarket beer aisles, it was decided early on to lighten up the overall feel for those two pieces. We pulled out the lightest and brightest colors of the original designs for the main floods while resizing and placing elements – including the awesome hop and monetary patterns – for all of the new formats. On the other hand, I needed to keep in mind that the labels for the new 12-ounce bottles were being resized from the originals by the label company with no changes to the color or content. To this end I kept the original circular badges intact on the end panels to maintain continuity from the carrier to its contents.

This was a new process for all of us and we are extremely happy with the results. My knowledge of dielines, drawdowns, and lead times has expanded with such a massive undertaking – I loved the opportunity to stretch and grow. And the best news of all – there’s more to come! Stay tuned!

*As always, click on the mosaic for a slideshow of larger images.

Beer and Chocolate? Yes, Please!

On its own, a beer and chocolate pairing party sounds quite attractive, but getting the opportunity to design the event poster? That takes the errrr, cake! Okay, so there wasn’t any cake involved, but I was provided with pairing specifics, event details and logos with the usual ‘make it look good and have fun with it’ directive.

I wasn’t completely sure how I was going to illustrate hunks of chocolate in an appealing way, but once I came upon the pattern and tiling idea to replicate chocolate squares, it all came together. I then used elements of the poster for a quarter page flier handed out at beer tastings held at The Meadow previous to the pairing event. I must say, I had a blast working on this, Lompoc was really happy with the results, and the event was so well-attended they had to get more chocolate part way through!

*As always, click on the images to view larger versions.

Evolution of the Saison (Label)

Another quick project post – this time for a beer label (!!). Lompoc Brewing came to me in need of a label design for their new seasonal, Saison de L’Evolution, French for “Evolution of the Season.” They knew they wanted the design to center around John Foyston’s painting of a tractor – it’s a Belgian-style Farmhouse Ale after all – which contributed to the choice of burlap as the overall label background. Historically, Lompoc’s labels have included a lot of texture – I wanted to honor that and stay consistent in the use of the centered circular format so that the new label could coexist nicely with its predecessors.

Shown are a couple of quick shots of the bottle in-situ and a graphic of the launch event poster illustrating the expansion on the label design for additional marketing usage.

*As always, click on the images to view larger versions.

Sneak Peek: Logo and Rebranding Project

Here’s a peek at a recently completed logo that was part of an overall company rebranding project. The logo is finalized and we’re in the final stages of getting the collateral produced. Stay tuned for pics and the whole story!

Lompoc Brewing Holiday Beer Poster

Instructions were to have fun with it… And indeed, it was one of the more fun projects I’ve worked on in awhile. What’s more fun than a holiday beer party and a surly polar bear in mittens?

*As always, click on the image for a larger view.