Walt Whitman was known for enjoying life’s greatest pleasures: “Happiness, not in another place but this place… not for another hour, but this hour,” is a quote of his we embodied during the process.
He aimed to break free from tradition, and was a visionary of his time. We leaned into that outlaw attitude and unapologetic approach to creating, sharing, and enjoying life, landing on a brand voice that inspires.
ABOUT
Just before COVID hit, the much-loved former home of the Saratogian newspaper reopened as Whitman Brewing and Walt Cafe.
The vision for a state-of-the-art cafe and craft brewery that could evoke the history of the location and the spirit of 19th-century American poet, Walt Whitman, has resulted in a well-loved spot for “Walt tarts,” beer, coffee, Detroit-style pizza and more.
But two years in, the team at Whitman was looking for a more cohesive brand voice and visual style to guide the brand’s future. And that’s where the BLKDOG team joined in.
DELIVERABLES
- Brand ID + Guidelines
- Website Design + Development
- On-Premise Design
- Marketing Strategy
- Signage Design + Install
- Apparel Design
Recognizable, playful, and unique yet classic. That was our design team’s approach to the new Whitman Brewing and Walt Cafe logo set. We used a cohesive color scheme to bring the two brands – and physical spaces – together, with accented fonts and colors to acknowledge their differences.
We also introduced a new take on their well-loved Whitman icon. Where the previous iterations focused on their namesake, the new “seeker” character represents the individual visitor.
Whitman’s existing brand was strong, yet scattered. One-off can designs and artist features reflected the brewery’s dining room, but without one strong logomark to connect them, the team worried about brand recognition.
The new logo designs, font collection, and other brand assets are reflected in-house, on outside signage, social media, and the newly designed website.
Breweries create unique logos, labels, and packaging to make their products stand out on crowded shelves.
Storytelling and authenticity are key components of craft brewery marketing.
Effective brewery marketing often centers around strong branding.
Providing website visitors with a seamless experience is at the heart of our web design and development projects. Working with the Whitman team, we knew the website was a sore spot in desperate need of direction.
Bringing the newly created brand to the site was the simple part. To successfully create a website for Whitman, we developed a web page hierarchy for potential visitor journeys: takeout/delivery request, craft beer enthusiast, event organizer, local event goer, an out-of-town visitor looking for a dinner menu, working professional hankering for a great latte.
From there, with clear goals and clearer pathways, we started designing a “skin” for approval before development begins.
