the largest fruit brewery in north america
Urban Artifact is the largest fruit brewery in North America - using exclusively real fruit and ingredients for their brews. I was their Senior/Lead Graphic Designer for 7 years, working closely with the chief branding officer on directing and articulating the brand.
I have helped craft, mold, and refine the brand messaging from labels, packaging, and digital assets for social media to merchandise and much more. This has been in collaboration with co-owner and excellent illustrator Scott Hand, whose creative character ideations, which we collaborate on, help drive the spirit of the brand.
Fruit Beer - but make it feel alive.
When I first arrived at Urban Artifact, they already had a stellar product that was undeniably unique, well-crafted, and tasty. One issue that I decided to tackle with co-owner and creative director Scott Hand was: “How do we make this feel more hand-made and visually communicative of the voice of the brand?”
In the beginning, the logo and most of the informational text on the product itself were a little clunky, and using up space that wasn’t necessary. I aimed to not only clean up unnecessary elements in most of the product and merchandisedesignsn, but also help guide and mold a more fitting visual approach to the logo and branding.
Where we landed was utilizing Scott Hand’s unique hand-made (no pun intended) style of drawing by not only redrawing the logo in his own penmanship, but also the titles of all of the Midwest Fruit Tart line. This has not only vastly improved the branding visually, but also has bridged a gap between the visuals and the spirit of the brand itself.
THE VISUAL LANGUAGE
Everything had been evolving into this beautiful, lively, visual biome. One that felt lively, and as though it had lore with the newer characters that I helped direct into existence (see Teak, Ward, Jack, and a handful of others), and it started to become “how do we elevate this further?”
With my interest in motion graphics i started to explore, via Instagram reels, how we could continue to push the Urban Artifact spirit across mediums, and communicate the breath of fresh air the product provides to the alcoholic beverage space.
Urban Artifact - Color is Flavor - Campaign Reel
Urban Artifact - Capy Snacks Capy Pack - Release Reel
Urban Artifact - Kilobyte Teaser Video
Urban Artifact - Quarterly Club - Reel for Subscriber Campaign
