"Wheathead Brewery" Logo and Label, with Custom Illustration
a logo and stationery project by nutboltandpixel

Creative brief

The buyer added updates to the brief. Read them.

Rustic, historic logo and label needed for a brew pub. Artwork must center on the company founder (D.R.) as well as on the terrain surrounding the business (Idaho) in some way.

As a sincere appeal and bonus for truly custom art centering on D.R., we would like to offer the winning artist the option of receiving a “wearable” copy of the work when shirts are printed next year.


OVERVIEW:

Logo & Label design:

- NAME: Wheathead (can also be Wheathead Brewery, Wheathead Brewing Co.)
- TAGLINE: Proudly Served.
- LOCATION: Idaho Falls, ID
- PRODUCT: Design should allow for varied brews (e.g. Cream Stout, Hazelnut Ale)
- THEME: rustic (not western), historic, compatriotic, regional
- IMAGERY: D.R. (see http://www.wheatheadbrewery.com/dr.htm), mountains, wheat/barley
- COLORS: spot preferred (read below)
- PALETTE: warm; woodsy and/or antiquity
- FORMAT: vector (AI) preferred; raster (PSD) accepted
- SIZE: label about 3.5” tall by 4” wide (3.5” tall x 2.5” wide max view area) with a neck label about 1.5” tall by 3” wide (1.5” tall x 1” wide max view area); a logo icon should reduce to 1” square (bottle cap).

The art will be used in silkscreening, embroidery, etching, printing, etc. which is why we feel it’s important to have vector art and spot colors. Shading and CMYK would probably greatly enhance the design, but if you get creative with shadows etc., please try to provide a spot vector for ungainly production processes if you can.

Wheathead is old fashioned in its operations, relationships, values. We’d appreciate a sense of this tradition in the art. Please see http://www.letterheadfonts.com and consider “woodcut” old offset-press effects. Note: If you want to use a Letterhead Font in your design, you can use the type-tester feature on their site to build a low-res rough draft; if we see potential in the design, we’ll purchase the font for the project.


AUDIENCE:

Our customer-base covers a diverse range of beer-lovers ranging from 21-year-old ski bums & river rats to spirited 71-year-old lodge coots. But the marketing centers mainly on vets, particularly the spunky retired types passing through to retreats and nat’l parks in WY & MT. The atmosphere is inviting, brotherly, woodsy.


COMPANY:

D.R. and his family founded Wheathead in 2006 with three goals in mind: (1) To brew a darn fine selection of beers, (2) To build rich relationships with other brewers in the region, and (3) To honor servicemen. Wheathead Brewery is D.R.’s last legacy; therein lies the sensitivity of this project.

D.R. is a true Idaho pioneer, dad, grand-dad, wartime vet, compatriot, hard worker, craftsman, brewer, and honorary founder of the Wheathead Brewery. He is quiet, contented, contemplative, honorable, adored… And not only for his rich brews; they are just a bonus.


IDENTITY:

A local designer was hired to develop the first logo, http://www.wheatheadbrewery.com. Even though the concept, emotion, colors were well liked by the founders, the composition felt “inexpert.” So a year later, a pro design team was hired to take the identity to a new level. It didn’t pan out. Finally an online “logo factory” was hired; the results were sadly generic. We are eager to find more quality and vision here.

Even though it is not the "greatest" design, the existing logo touches key features of the identity:

The Man...
D.R. pics are posted at http://www.wheatheadbrewery.com/dr.htm; you can refer to these when dreaming up a great idea for how to use his image. Please don’t be too literal; even though D.R. is the figurative beacon, we don’t want a photo. A hint of D.R. – an artist’s eye view – would be perfect (any level of detail from Sam Adams http://www.samueladams.com to Granite City (http://www.gcfb.net/beermenu.cfm to Gage Roads http://www.gageroads.com.au). D.R. is funny but certainly not goofy, and the biz is not humor based, so we should avoid silly caricatures.

Terrain...
In Idaho, rolling wheat, barley, grass and desert fields give way to Rocky Mountains. From the Wheathead Brewery as well as from D.R.’s early homes, Tetons and surrounding hills are in crystal clear view.

Agriculture...
Even though brews are generally associated with barley and hops, the wheat in the current logo relates to our name.

Honor...
D.R.’s silhouette in the current logo is meant to emulate a memorial toast or toast-of-honor, as in the poster of Waking Ned Divine (http://www.imdb.com/media/rm479631616/tt0166396). In essence, D.R. is reminiscing of home and sharing a beer with his [distant and/or fallen] brothers. This element is important because the logo is meant to represent respect to fellow servicemen, yet not too strongly suggest patriotism. Besides, Sam Adams owns that identity; Sam Adams is also the reason we asked the original artist to avoid a similar forward-facing toast.