Fresh Company Name Seeks Spicy New Logo: Oregon Coast Wasabi

Recently my friend Steven contacted me when his client Oregon Coast Wasabi opted to change their name. They were in need of a wordmark solution to update their site and to use across social media in the form of icons and banners. Once those was delivered, I was tapped to design an accompanying set of gift certificates just in time for the holiday season. Curious to see how it all might work together, I whipped up a business card design just for fun.

Did you know water-grown wasabi was farmed right on the Oregon Coast? Neither did I! Be sure to try it out at a spot near you!

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

Twice As Nice: Two Vintage-Inspired Beer Can Designs

When Lompoc Brewing decided it was time to venture into can packaging for their beers, owner Jerry Fechter came to our meeting with clippings with several vintage beer cans. The commonalities were limited color palettes, easy-to-read type, and “premium” copy. With that as inspiration we came up with the Proletariat Red design keeping in mind its sales success could mean additional beers in the future can line-up. Lo and behold last fall we were able to put Lomporter Classic Porter out into the market while easily keeping true to our initial can design and brand and aesthetic priorities.

As with any sales initiative, product design needs to be followed with product promotion. Both beers were introduced with kickoff events requiring promotional posters, social media graphics, and merchandise including garments and pins. Additionally, Jerry asked me to come up with a newspaper ad announcing two great beers now available in cans. I presented five rough copy ideas for consideration. Rather than choosing just one, he opted to use all the ideas in consecutive weeks culminating with an ad size version of the Lomporter Friday the 13th event poster. The events were well-attended, the beers are on numerous retail shelves, and we’re set for new additions to the Lompoc beer can line-up.

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

Check Please! Three Beers and Two Breweries Comes to a Total of One Poster… Wanna Go Dutch?

In 2016 the Oregon Brewers Fest international tent featured offerings from a number of Dutch and Japanese breweries. Their brewers were present to pour samples, answer questions, and enjoy one of the best weeks Portland has to offer. Additionally, the brewers joined local breweries for collaboration brewing days. One such pairing included Oproer Brouwerij teaming up with Lompoc Brewing for not one, but three delicious beers.

Fast-forward to 2017… OBF had eliminated the international tent, but that didn’t stop a few of the brewers from returning. There were beers to be had, beers to be brewed, and beer events to attend; one of which was the unveiling of the 2016 Oproer / Lompoc collaboration brews.

I was brought in to design the promotional poster and given the usual time and date, beer list, location, and the sometimes challenging ‘have fun with it’ directive. I was a bit stumped to begin with, but realized the term “Let’s Go Dutch” actually made sense here – they did share the brewing and collaboration efforts after all. After a bit of discussion with Lompoc head brewer Bryan Keilty, we decided to fully Go Dutch and use every cliché out there – from windmills to wooden shoes. Having not yet met the Oproer team I had to ask if they had a sense of humor (will tulips be met with an eye roll?!) and was assured they did. Apparently they have an appreciation for poster design too – when I went to grab a poster following the well-attended event I was told they had gone through the pub and collected all of them to take back to their pub in Utrecht. I’ll take that as a pretty big compliment – Proost!

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.