Ethereal Brewing Brand Management
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DROP IT LIKE IT'S HOP
Print, Design, Brand Management, Social Media Management
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As the old adage says, 'Beer is proof that God loves us,' and we live by those words. Seriously, at times we wish we could just replace our water intake with it...but that's probably not healthy. So, when the boys at Ethereal Brewing moved in down the street, we couldn't help but find ourselves meandering to their doorsteps to find out more about the magic behind the beer. We were enthralled and captivated by their passion for the craft, and set out to help them define the brand.
Working with their love for hand-drawn art, we let the inspiration drive us into full-blown design binges for all of their beers, coasters, apparel, and more. Just like crafting beer is a hands-on process, we drove to ensure that we had a hands-on approach in design, always drawing each item on paper first before transferring it to pixels, and ultimately to print.
We jumped into the deep end by tackling one of the biggest client concerns first: with 3 businesses all within a stone’s throw away, they wanted to stand out above the rest to potential customers. We put together a design that wrapped the old building in black with bold, unique, hand drawn fonts spelling out their tagline of, “Blurring The Line Between Science And Magic.” This allows them stand out as unique from half a mile away when entering the Distillery District.
“Each beer has its own personality, so name and label it accordingly.” That was the goal with each and every beer label. We started with a clean slate each and every time, allowing new ideas to not be hindered by existing label structures. The approach resulted in a completely unique label for each type of equally unique beer, and one is different even within their own family.
Why stop at label design when it comes to your brewery of choice? C’mon, nothing says “I love this place!” like being able to clothe yourself in something truly Ethereal. Our designs all start by hand, and are reviewed and edited as needed every step of the way. Sketches and inspiration fuse with beer education, a splash of magic, and a touch of alchemy to create a design worth wearing around town.
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Nothing says, “You like us, you really like us!” quite as well as Facebook ‘likes’ do. It’s right there in the name. Over the course of our social media management with Ethereal, they’ve steadily grown, which often proves difficult in a saturated market such as craft beer & breweries.
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One of the most interesting aspects of being a brewer is experimentation. At Ethereal, we saw a great opportunity to capitalize on their journey to discover new beers, but branding and selling it, rather than discarding it like most brewery’s end up doing. What was born was a day coined “Craft Wednesday.” Each Wednesday all the crazy ideas that those alcoholic alchemists come up with are sold at discount while taking into account their customer’s feedback.
We imported and printed custom labels on special beaker glasses that were sold that single night which came with a discount on the experimental beer of the week. It was a massive success with hundreds of glasses being sold, and giving an opportunity for their customers to give feedback, ultimately contributing to what is offered permanently on their taps.
Justice Dental Branding & Marketing
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BRUSHING UP ON THE BASICS
Brand Management, Commercial Production, Graphic Design, Print
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How do you create a brand to live up to one of the top 25 female dentists in the world? We set off to find out, and ultimately settled upon going against the grain of industry peers and paving our own way, just as Dr. Laura Justice did for herself.
With a massive renovation just being completed, new locations planned, and a partner retiring, Dr. Justice approached Oculus to help formulate a completely new look. We wanted to help push the brand into a high-end, quality feel, very much in the vein of a luxury clothing or handbag company. The staff were ecstatic and jumped right into researching clothing and accessory brands for inspiration, and there might have been a little shopping involved as well...but we won't tell if you don't.
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Leaning into a strong name, we set off into what we call “intrinsic ideation,” where we internally incubate countless concepts and variations on what we feel the new logo should be, and what it should say about the client. The result was a logo that encapsulates the strong name, as well as the opulent feel of Dr. Justice’s work and the spa-like environment they provide to their patients…in combination with a bold color that plays against the cool blue trends of most dentists.
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Jumping off from a locked identity, we continued into what we lovingly call a ‘Brand Bible,’ which consists of establishing photo styles, fonts, colors and lockups that can be disseminated to their staff and all their partners. This process is critical for all businesses, and we take great care to ensure a client’s brand is represented well in every scenario. Brand consistency is all that potential customers have to go off of when evaluating decisions for themselves and their families. Being top-of-mind means consistency in brand placement, and consistency in design language.
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One of the things we really enjoy doing are seasonal appropriate ads. A fun one for example is this carved pumpkin we created for Halloween in which we designed a logo jack-o-lantern of sorts. Ensuring a brand is fresh while piggy-backing on cultural or current-events keeps a company relevant in the minds of consumers, and shows a tenacious and created attitude, ultimately humanizing the company into a relatable entity.
Kellogg – Life In The Soil
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GETTING OUR HANDS DIRTY
Illustration, Animation, Sound Design, Asset Design
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'Make learning about dirt interesting.' That's what our friends over at Anaheim Studios tasked us to do for one of their clients, Kellogg Garden Products. We set off to get down to the nitty-gritty and do the impossible...while hopefully having a little fun along the way. What was supposed to be a 90-second animation blossomed into a full-blown 3 minute animation and resulted in a very useful way to convey a complex idea in a simple, fun project; ultimately winning us multiple Emmy awards in both audio design and graphic arts.
We created a familiar yet friendly design language while also conveying the idea everything in nature has a structure, and organic, non-genetically modified soil is the best approach. To do this, we structured the trees in nature to be built with hinges, gently unfolding as they grow.
Why is it that trees in the forest grow so quickly, completely unhindered with no outside assistance, while our own gardens seem to struggle when given personal attention? This question rang true to us, and was a jumping-off point in the animation that springboards the following scenes into a visual roller coaster we’d like to think Ms. Frizzle would be proud of.
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There was an enormous amount of time spent ensuring that each leaf, vegetable, and branch animate on in a pleasing manner, gently swaying in the wind with ease. The final render required 8 computers working simultaneously in order to compute the amount of on-screen objects in a couple of the scenes. Similarly, the final audio mix resulted in hundreds of tracks of sound effects, all contributing to a sense of fun that hopefully just feels right to the viewer.’
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Ultimately the project was a massive success, with Home Depot approving the request to show it inside their stores next to the product itself. We really enjoyed the challenge of making a dirt product as interesting and educational as possible. And while honored to be recognized by the Television Academy, we are even more thrilled to help our client and their customers live better lives all the while helping the environment through organic, sustainable resources.
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