Project Case Study – Designing a Canned Margarita Brand
Project Overview
CLIENT NAME: Willyum’s Margarita
INDUSTRY: Canned Cocktails
PROJECT TYPE: Full Visual Brand Identity Design
DURATION: 27th March – 3rd May
ROLE: Lead Designer
Background
Willyum’s Margarita was an idea formulated by a couple in Colorado, USA, hoping to emerge onto the market with a vibrant, natural and delicious canned margarita brand. They approached me with a lot of excitement and inspiration for their brand’s direction along with moodboards, potential colours and influences from other brands they aspire to be like. Whilst this is not essential at this stage for the client to provide, it definitely helps me get a sense of what we’re aiming for early on, clarity is king in design projects for client and designer to align effectively. Their goal was to create a retro, bohemian, summer brand amongst the fast-growing competition within this industry that could appeal to a young adult audience and stand out in a competitive market.
Deliverables
The business was just a concept at this point in time, meaning I would design the branding from the ground up. As mentioned before, the clients had an ample amount of planning under their belts before approaching me which gave us a firm starting point and direction. After filling out my initial brand questionnaire along with some more questioning and chats via e-mail we agreed on these key deliverables for the project:
A fully responsive logo suite that would be flexible on all applications
A colour palette
Font choices and pairings
An art style that could be used long-term by the client independently
The Brief
With the desired deliverables confirmed the rest of our conversations concerned how these would look stylistically and the direction we were headed in. Some key characteristics that were outlined during the briefing stage were:
Bohemian, Summer: The client conveyed a desire for the brand to present itself as bohemian, carefree, artistic and a bit rough around the edges. This would become an avenue of research for us, looking at how more rustic, lively and young imagery could be used to build an approachable, cool personality for the brand.
Natural: The clients aimed to use all natural ingredients and with the current demand on the market for greener, sustainable products this would be an important message to champion in our identity.
Retro: A love of retro resonated with both the client and myself. With the themes of hand-made products, summery cocktails and the Mexican heritage of the beverage, a retro-American look would fit nicely and give us an aesthetic edge.
Mood board designed to confirm visual alignment with the client.
Research & Direction
Before diving into design, I conducted thorough research to understand the client’s market, competitors, and target audience. This phase included:
Market Research: Analyzing the competitive landscape to identify common design trends and gaps that haven’t been utilised.
Proposal Audit: If my client is an existing brand I usually analyse and audit their existing branding here which isn’t applicable to new brands. Instead here though as the client had provided so much of their own research and ideas I could analyse what I thought could work, what would not work and what we could play around with from their research.
Brand Positioning: Clarifying the brand’s positioning in relation to competitors and defining key attributes that need to be conveyed. I present this through keywords, mood boards and sliders in order to make sure my clients are as aligned as possible with my thoughts.
From this research, I presented the findings in the form of mood boards, chosen keywords and a summary of our intended direction for the brand’s character. I find these methods to be the most relatable for my clients to present clearly both visually and verbally the direction I intend to aim for.
Initial route sketches.
Concept Development
With the information gathered, I began developing concepts that would align with the brand’s vision and appeal to their target audience. The main missing component to our project was some form of hero image. This could take the form of an abstract image suggesting an idea, or a more literal illustration borrowing established ideas from a recognisable icon. My concepts therefore centered around finding this iconic image:
A Jaguar: To embody the character of a spicy, wild cocktail I thought the native big cat of Mexico to be fitting and filled with stylistic potential. The big cats act as bold brand mascots with their ferocity and power whilst also being majestic and mysterious in calmer poses and moods.
A Snake: A Snake perhaps most literally represented the idea of a Margarita, with it’s exoticism, its venomous sour flavour and its volatile personality. The snake illustration was presented squeezing a lime with juice dripping plentifully from within.
Literal Ingredients: Alternatively to a fantastical embodiment of our personality was a more on-the-nose representation of the ingredients of the cocktail itself. This could prove challenging with a lime not being the most interesting-looking thing on the surface but this was overall the safer and more direct approach.
Refined Colour Palette.
Refinement & Feedback
After presenting the initial concepts to the client, we entered a feedback and refinement phase. The client’s decided route was the more understated, abstract icon of the lime. From here we would refine and dial in our designs to progress towards the desired final outcome:
The icon was nice but still a bit generic and mimicable, we needed to make it our own somehow.
We would make further investigations into the typography to leave no stone unturned.
We would rework the colour palette to make sure it was super relevant and futureproof.
I worked closely with the client through multiple iterations, ensuring each change was aligned with the core goals of the project. The brand matured organically towards a unique, eye-catching and interesting final product.
Final Logo Suite Designs
Final Deliverables
Once the design was finalized, I provided the client with a comprehensive brand identity package, which included:
Primary Logo: The definitive brand logo that could work across most platforms and sizes.
Secondary Logo & Submarks: Alternate logos and icon-based elements to be used across different applications when the primary won’t suit. These submarks ensure the brand remains consistent and recognisable in all positions and across all brand collateral.
Colour Palette: A full colour palette of both primary and secondary colours designed to work fluently in various combinations across all brand applications.
Typography System: A set of typefaces with usage guidelines that harmonise and add interest and contrast with one another, allowing my client to independently create typographic collateral that looks sophisticated and considered.
Graphic Elements: I designed a set of graphical elements – such as typographic stamps and iconic shapes that run throughout the brand – to be used to layer and create pattern and intrigue when designs are blank. I’ve found that when inspiration is lacking it helps to have a defined set of rules to guide the way in your designs, and I want to provide this for my clients.
Canned Cocktail Packaging Mockup
Outcome & Impact
The new brand identity helped Willyum’s to achieve several key objectives:
Brand Recognition: The distinct visual identity allows the brand to be identified and more importantly remembered after a customer comes into contact with it. Until this is established any attention gained isn’t banked and put to use for the business.
Strong Market Positioning: With a cohesive brand system, Willyum’s can differentiate themselves from competitors and communicate their unique values more effectively. They can immediately leapfrog brands that haven’t invested their money and time into their brand identities and can stand apart from their competitors in the industry.
Legitimacy: Having a sophisticated identity system designed gives their product a legitimacy that brands without will struggle to compete with. This is the first step to climbing the ladder towards a successful brand as it provides audiences with trust. When you look the part, people take you seriously.
Adaptability: With a strategic identity and plan in place a business can remain adaptable and flexible to all obstacles. They are equipped for all challenges with a range of logo variations, a logic to design work to make planning in design simple and straightforward and typography rules that will suit them across all print and digital applications.
Key Takeaways
Willyum’s Margarita is a great example of a client who knew what they wanted and gave great collaborative input in designing their brand. In projects where we design brands from scratch, it is absolutely essential to be perfectly aligned with the aims before diving into the design work, and this project is a great example of having the perfect blueprint to make delivering on a design project easy and natural.