Brand Design
Whether you compete on a retail store shelf, amid multiple tasting rooms or online, if your brand doesn’t make a positive first impression, you won’t get a chance to make a second. Your value and your values—not just your function—should be obvious at a glance.
Introduce and identify your brand by design, not by chance!
Goose Mountain
A deep, rich, robust color palette stimulates the appetite while setting the expectation of a luxurious wine experience. Should you happen to look at a picture of the ridge you may notice that rotating the goose feather 90 degrees forms a silhouette of Goose Mountain.
Lost Oak Winery
Lost Oak Winery in Burleson, Texas came to us for a brand refresh – one that was casual and approachable, yet upscale. We created this vibrant logo, which is used in conjunction with black and white illustrations of oak leaves, oak trees and tree rings on their labels, tote bags, apparel and more.
AWARDS
2022 American Package Design Award
Ransom Rambler
The logo was designed to convey the warmth and friendliness found within.
Martinez & Martinez
Martinez & Martinez is an established wine brand in Washington State’s lower Yakima Valley. In transition to their second generation of ownership, they asked that we “age” the logo that we originally did for them in 2013, to incorporate an element of their family heritage—a sugar skull—into the design.
Vido Vodka
Arvid “Vido” Monson was known for putting his hand on your shoulder as he spoke to you – usually encouraging you to live your dream. When his children and grandchildren – now operating the family-owned GR Distillery – created a Vodka in his honor, it was only fitting that we incorporate his signature stance into the logo. Arvid’s leadership and authority were thus acknowledged in the brand designed for this hand-crafted, premium vodka.
Muse Farms
Idealized asparagus spears combined with modern typography communicate “state-of-the-art quality” for this innovative Franklin County grower.
Category 5
This delightful brand is a natural consequence of the owner’s internet technology background in Seattle’s own version of Silicon Valley (the Redmond area). The logo features circuitry, while the wines have names like, “Framework”, “The Hacker” and “Firewall Red”.
Furs n’ Gurls
The tagline, “Zoomies. Roomies. Groomies.” sets the stage for this friendly, fun-loving doggy daycare/groomer/kennel imagery. An iconic golden retriever conveys “loyalty”, his tennis ball shouts “fun”, and the various shades of orange exude happiness, warmth, intelligence and activity!
Wind Horse Vineyard
Windhorse is a rough English translation of the Tibetan word “Lungta,” which means ‘life force that brings good fortune.’ This sentiment embodies the owners’ commitment to socially and environmentally responsible farming.
To visually communicate this message, we chose an earthy shade of purple (the color of royalty), to combine with a windswept illustration and typography. It’s no coincidence that Wind Horse Vineyard is located along the Columbia River just outside Hood River, Oregon – the windsurfing capitol of the world.
Winchester
This client is converting a family farm into a vineyard and winery AND pheasant conservancy! To acknowledge this unique combination of efforts, we designed a stylized pheasant illustration to be executed on their wine labels with copper foil and a tiny pop of bright green to accentuate the neck feathers.
What a Rush
Owner Wysteria Rush works with wineries to deliver outrageously fun, one-of-a-kind events. We worked with her to develop a brand evocative of the “I march to the beat of a different drum” cry of the 1960’s – thus, the colors, font and treatment.
Warr-King Wines
Warr-King Wines’ brand identity design was inspired by the concepts of impeccable craftsmanship and gracious hospitality reminiscent of the Craftsman era.
AWARDS
2021 American Graphic Design Award
Vybe
The owners of Vybe reported that people often walk through their door and proclaim, “I love the vibe here,” without realizing what they’ve just said. That’s how we know we hit the branding bullseye on this one!
Tommy’s Tap House
The mission here was to create a warm, friendly Irish neighborhood pub feel. The colors, font and other design elements are all designed to contribute to that end result.
Starvation Farms
In honor of the farm’s centennial anniversary, owner Chris Rausch commissioned us to create a new logo. We went with opulence as a nod to the impressive longevity of “Starvation Farms”.
Nirvana Wines
The literal meaning of the word Nirvana is “quenching” – appropriate for a high-end wine brand rooted in Buddhist tradition. We employed a stylized version of the tranquil lotus flower in their logo and adapted mesmerizing mandalas to the design of their wine labels.
See3Slam
The Tri-Cities Sunrise Rotary created this three-on-three basketball tournament to raise money for a humanitarian outreach program that makes eye surgery possible for those in Ethiopia who have little or no access to vision care. Sara Nelson Design helped name the event and create the vibrant, fun branding.
Sunshine Valley Vineyards
This wine brand was created with a very specific strategic plan: initially sell in the United States to build a reputation, but ultimately – with awards under its belt – target sales in China. The positioning was specifically as a high-end corporate gift purchase. To establish SVV wines as a valuable, prestigious gift, we kept the design clean, subtle, low-contrast, and created metallic elements to differentiate from other, lower cost wines.
Piton Wealth
A “piton” is a tool that climbers use to safely ascend a mountain. The Piton Wealth logo features both a mountain and columns on a chart that represent financial ascent to connect the stories of the two kinds of journey—each with help and a guide along the way. The navy color communicates trust; the orange communicates intelligence and propelling motion, and the font exudes clarity and solidity.
Pasco Farmers Market
We deigned this logo to communicate “local, rural and fresh” – the ultimate reputational goal for a Farmer’s Market – while also sharing a color palette with the Downtown Pasco Development Association and the Pasco Specialty Kitchen logos.
Magnum Promotions
When you sell branded apparel and promotional items for a living and your tagline is “Put your brand on it”, a branding iron in your logo just draws itself!
Sageland Center
Sageland Center requested an environmentally inspired brand for its high-end, state-of-the-art meeting venue designed for small educational seminars, business meetings and workshops. The center is located in the Tri-Cities, in Eastern Washington’s desert. Sagebrush is a VERY common sight around the building. Thus, a stylized sagebrush plant illustration was created for their logo. This was kept as simple as possible to help create an elegant feel.
Krista Hopkins Homes
Realtor Krista Hopkins is both an artist and a self-proclaimed geek. She loves to work with “detail-oriented people”. We drew inspiration for her logo from the mathematically precise artwork of Piet Mondrian. His palette of primary colors was tweaked slightly to convey Krista’s warm and friendly yet authoritative personality.
Middleton Farms
Middleton Farms created a community-wide autumn festival to make the farm life experience available to anyone curious or simply nostalgic. We designed their logo to be fun and friendly, throwing it back to the region’s agricultural heritage.
HAPO
This once-local credit union needed a warm and friendly—but definitely corporate—identity. In the more than 20 years since we designed this logo, HAPO grew from three local branches to more than 15 branches across eastern Washington and Oregon.
Revitalize Spine & Sports Care
With this in mind, we created the company’s brand to communicate trust and restoration of physical activity through the use of color and a series of leaves that transitioned from small and delicate to large, robust and full of life.
Bob Rhodes
Bob Rhodes Heating and Air needed to refresh its identity, but without losing focus on their legacy of trust, competence and warmth. We designed two versions of this logo: one horizontal; one stacked. The new elements were incorporated into their fleet, uniforms, signage, stationery and website.
Cicada Cellars
Winemaking is a serious business, but that doesn’t mean it can’t also be fun! Cicada Cellars is a casual, comfortable, quality-conscious winery based in Stonewall, Texas—where cicadas are a natural, normal part of life!
Equipt
The Q in this this strikingly simple logo for Equipt Rentals is a cog. The black is decidedly masculine and conveys a sense of power and authority. The orange communicates intelligence and motion. Together they send an unmistakable message of being ready, willing and able to get your project moving.
Carpenter Handcrafted
He’s a landscape photographer. She’s a portrait photographer. What do they have in common? A passion for beautiful, custom photography—and four darling children!
College Cellars
College Cellars is a highly regarded teaching winery with an impressive list of accolades. The branding for this Walla Walla Community College project had to reflect of the world-class winery they’ve become. We like to think that this type treatment does.
Asparagus Festival & Brews
Each year, people come from all over to enjoy the Mid-Columbia Region’s farm-fresh asparagus—prepared in every way imaginable—with a backdrop of outstanding musical entertainment. It’s very much a niche event (asparagus being an acquired taste) but the “Brews” definitely broaden the appeal! This logo was almost more illustration than design…
Cedar River Cellars
Precision winemaking is at the core of the Cedar River Cellars brand. We combined that concept with the color and concentric rings of a cedar with the graceful waves of a river to create this highly memorable brand for this suburban Seattle winery.
AWARDS
2021 American Graphic Design Award
Lacewing Cellars
Despite its delicate, fragile beauty, the Lacewing is the warrior of the vineyard — guardian of the grapes. Though tiny, this insect allows Lacewing Cellars to grow grapes with less intervention. This “do what’s best” philosophy drives sustainable vineyard practices and cleaner winemaking.
The logo we designed for them is earthy, delicate and clean as well.
AWARDS
- 2021 American Graphic Design Award
Black Heron Spirits
When Mark Williams purchased Black Heron, he wanted the brand refreshed in such a way as to keep the distillery’s name and existing Art Deco feel of the brand yet add the more graceful imagery of a heron in flight. A simple, elegant, reversed silhouette turned out to be the key to this design.
Tri-Cities Rowing Association
We chose a vibrant, hibiscus red for the background so that rowing apparel stands out on the water contrasted with relaxed shades of blue and lavender for the landscape.
Alexander Huang Wines
Developed for a chain of tasting rooms across China, the imagery developed for this high-end Napa Valley wine speaks to a culture with an insatiable appetite for western luxury brands and a strong ethic of corporate gifting as way to make a significant connection with new potential clients or vendors.
Ciao Kitchen
Restaurateurs Jessie and Susanne Ayala needed a suite of logos for the three existing businesses (Ciao Wagon, Ciao Trattoria and Ciao Catering) as well as the logo for the Ciao Kitchen, a fine dining establishment that is in the works. Our solutions was to change out the accent color and tagline for each to accurately communicate the type of experience one should expect.
Aviam Cellars
In honor of their grandmother, the original owner of their Red Mountain Vineyard, the Myers family named the winery “Aviam” — the Latin word for “maternal grandmother”.
We worked closely with them to create a logo that depicts an elegant woman of the vine.
Explohr
Walla Walla winemaker, Rob Wohr, came to us with nothing more than a concept for his wine brand. He asked for something that encourages curiosity and inclusivity.
We worked with him to create the company name, branding, tagline and two tiers of packaging—one for traditional wines and another for Rob’s “explohratory” winemaking adventures.
Revelation
Revelation Rosé is a second label for Goose Ridge. The label features a fine art piece by Katie Small. We extracted floral elements from the art to create this feminine logo.
Paideia Christian Academy
A start up private school in Prosser, Washington, Paideia Christian Academy, requested a logo that is modern—yet serious, one that communicates warmth and Christian values.