Project file
Mountain Brew Hideaway (concept)
Sierra Nevada / Concept
2023
The story
Earthy tones, hand-drawn texture, and layered type build a brand that feels lived-in but fresh — trail maps and remote-cabin cues instead of generic mountain clichés. Every piece, from the logo to the merch, supports the same idea: escape the noise and find your own hideaway, one pour at a time.
A range-building concept that demonstrates place-based identity, packaging thinking, and story-led visual direction — proof that a brand story can travel as far as the product it's built around.
Deliverables
Creative Direction
The direction started with a feeling, not a logo: the moment you find a cabin with the lights still on after a long day on the trail. Earthy, sun-faded tones stand in for the golden hour outside camp. Hand-drawn texture — the kind that looks worn by weather, not by a filter — keeps the system from reading like stock outdoor branding. Type does double duty: a rugged, slightly irregular display face carries the personality, while a cleaner companion face keeps fine print legible on a can at arm's length. Every decision was tested against one question: does this still feel handmade at six inches, and does it still read at sixty?
PRODUCTION NOTE
Identity System
The primary mark is a badge, not a logotype — a small cabin, chimney smoke, and treeline pressed into a circular seal, the way a national park patch or an old trail marker would be built. It carries the full color story: warm cabin wood, dusk-blue mountains, brass type. A second, single-color line-art version of the same badge exists for anywhere the full palette can't survive — etched glassware, embossed leather, a single-screen print — so the mark holds its identity even when it loses its color.
Packaging & Applications
The badge had to survive more than a can label. It was built to sit on a six-pack carrier printed with a topographic contour pattern, so the packaging itself carries the "found in the mountains" idea before anyone reads a word. The same mark carries over cleanly onto glassware — proof the system was built as a set of rules, not a single piece of art.
Field Notes
Mountain Brew Hideaway never shipped a single can. It didn't need to, to do its job: this is the project that proves out a full identity system — primary mark, secondary mark, packaging, and applications — built with the same rigor as a paid client engagement. The lesson carried into every brewery project since: a brand mark isn't finished until it's been tested somewhere harder than a logo sheet — on a can, on glass, in someone's hand at the end of a long day.
FIELD NOTEBOOK — IDENTITY STUDY
