A Visual Branding Case Study: Maker Wine

Client: Maker
Services: Visual Branding, Packaging, Unboxing

Maker is a canned wine brand based in California that is disrupting the conventional wine industry and giving a voice to winemakers and wineries across the country. In their own words:

We’re creating wine for people like you — who care about where their wine came from. People who are curious about small wineries and their unconventional makers. Who support the independent creators over the mass producers. And who want to feel connected to their wine, and to the people they’re sharing it with.

Sarah and Kendra are the brains behind Maker – two incredibly fun, brilliant, and visionary Stanford business school grads who are determined to provide consumers with access to incredible under-the-radar wines that have heart behind them. They love people, love wine, love storytelling. They’re determined and they are an absolute DREAM to work with.

Back in November of 2018 I got an email from Sarah and Kendra that they had seen my beer can designs on Pinterest and were interested in working with me to develop their visual branding and the first four cans for their initial release. Fast forward almost 10 months and here we are! Maker launched last week to great reviews and sales (shipping is currently available for California residents only) – and things are moving quickly as they prepare for significant growth over the winter months.

One of my absolute favorite things about my job is that I learn something new in every single project I take on. Though I have worked with other brands who produce and sell alcohol, I have not worked with any ecommerce direct to consumer alcohol brands and as such have learned quite a bit about the licensing process and the lengthy list of hoops a brand has to go through to deliver wine via the mail.

At its heart, we wanted the Maker mark to be simple and streamlined – we knew the can designs would be playful and vibrant and wanted something that could stand alone but also have a chameleon-like quality and perform visually when paired with a variety of different aesthetics, which you’ll see on the cans below. Right now we are wrapping up their unboxing experience and a few other delightful details for consumers to enjoy when they receive their wine.