Imperial Indigo: A Case Study

Most projects in my portfolio have a brief description with pictures. This entry is a longer case study showing my process from a blank slate to a finished logo. Let’s dive in.

The client, Uncorked, is a wine and beer retail store with a tasting bar opening soon in Chevy Chase, MD. They shared with me their lovely architectural renderings of the new space and requested a logo to fit with that vision: something simple, clean, and modern. They’ll expand to more locations and will use the same branding throughout. 

I kicked off the project by giving the team homework: a worksheet with short-answer questions and clickable multiple-choice options. (Read more about the content in the Discovery Phase of my process.) It’s an efficient way to help me get to know the brand. And the exercises help the client give language to aspects of their business they maybe haven’t articulated before. The answers serve as a creative brief we can refer back to. 

Then I summarized the key ideas, made a list of follow-up questions, and searched the internet for logo examples to discuss together. I picked samples based on content and style, showing general approaches that could work for this project. I always include some examples that I think won’t be quite the right direction, because I want to confirm this hunch with the client. It’s just as helpful to know what not to do.

We had a screen-share Zoom chat to get aligned: we needed a logo that is sophisticated, but also inviting and friendly. At home in an upscale environment, but not pretentious. Not overly ornate, but not cold and sleek, either. With a symbol that could be used separately from the wordmark.

I went to work.

Then I summarized the key ideas, made a list of follow-up questions, and searched the internet for logo examples to discuss together. I picked samples based on content and style, showing general approaches that could work for this project. I always include some examples that I think won’t be quite the right direction, because I want to confirm this hunch with the client. It’s just as helpful to know what not to do.

We had a screen-share Zoom chat to get aligned: we needed a logo that is sophisticated, but also inviting and friendly. At home in an upscale environment, but not pretentious. Not overly ornate, but not cold and sleek, either. With a symbol that could be used separately from the wordmark.

I went to work.

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