Silver Ridge Spirits
Overview
2025, University Assignment
A new company entering the alcohol market will be launching a premier liquor in time for the holidays. The launch will target three test markets: Middle America, Southern Country, and City Urban.
The task was to create brand guidelines, bottle design, a website homepage and advertisements (print and digital) tailored for each market. I selected Silver Ridge Spirits, based in the Pacific Northwest, and my liquor of choice was rum.
Scope
Brand Identity
Logo Design
Marketing/Advertising
Moodboard & Palette
Process (Sketches + Logo/Wordmark)
My thought process through sketching was to lean into both supernatural and costal themes. From left to right, a cloaked entity taking a shot, a sailboat with outlines of Pacific Northwestern states, and an illustrated coast. I ended up picking the second sketch to emphasize the region and the quality that comes with it.
Labels + Mockup
Still wanting to pull from previous ideas, the background of the label includes a smoky foliage which blends the trees and ghastly feel from the first and third sketches. The back features an illustration using a reference of Cascade Range, a mountain range stretching from Southern British Columbia to Northern California. For the holiday alternatives, I kept it relatively simple, adding Christmas lights, a “Snowed In” edition (with snow added to the back label), and a spiced variation.
Urban Ads
For the bus stop advert, I chose to take the term spirits as seriously as possible. By layering blues via gradient maps and blending skin with smoke, the dominant image is a spectral hand raising a glass. As metropolitan areas tend to be flooded with advertisements, the goal was something eye-catching and memorable. My approach towards the Instagram post was to invoke a sense of nostalgia, with grainy almost pixelated texture and dreamy, glowing colors.
Middle America Ads
Stepping into deliverables for a suburban audience, I sought to highlight the functionality of the rum. The flyer and story post both invite the audience to use the drink for their events and offer versatility to ways it can be consumed. With the wooden table and various pieces, the flyer is a nod to the timelessness of game nights and how the right drink can help in shaping the night. The holiday themed story features blurred Christmas lights that decorate the bottle, suspended and glistening with seasonal cocktails floating on each side.
Southern Country Ads
As I pondered this demographic, my mind immediately associated their deserves with craftsmanship and quality. People in rural areas tend to be older and therefore have had their experience with alcohol. They know what’s good and what isn’t, so for both of these ads I made a point to include items found through production, distillers and barrels, and utilized language that focused on expertise.
