Following on the heels of firmly establishing a fulfilling hobby in homebrewing, I’ve evolved what started out as a “sandbox” for my brewery-related creative endeavors (234 Craftbatch Handcrafted Ales) into a notional “pseudo-brewery” with a more fully-formed brand expression.

Reforming an identity and extending it to a microsite/blog and packaging design for updated and refined recipes became a “relaunch” of sorts for my homebrewing efforts, and a more serious approach to what “could be” in the unlikely event that Straw Bale Brewing lived a life beyond our basement.

The concept behind Straw Bale Brewing is centered on the idea that “simple,” “local,” and “quality” can all exist simultaneously in ways that benefit the maker, consumer and ultimately local economies. Straw Bale Brewery (myself, my wife and my son) seek ingredients in our own back yard (seriously, like our own garden – right there in the back yard) and tend to each part of the process with conservation, quality and simplicity.

While we aren’t selling products (yet), Straw Bale Brewing focuses on doing things in ways that would be beneficial to our community if they were being done on a larger scale. We capture all water used for cleaning and brewing and reuse it. We source ingredients from our local farm markets and grow some of them ourselves. We even use spent grain from brewing in homemade breads and soap.

To Straw Bale Brewing, staying locally-focused and making things with care is not only better for us as makers and consumers, but is also more delicious. We’re committed to making sure that people know, understand and appreciate that they do have a choice to make a better decision, and a tasty one, too.

As a brand, Straw Bale Brewing has a rustic personality, with a consistent warm and farm-friendly voice. Each release flirts with concepts that seem to jump from the pages of the Farmers Almanac, with both a nod to tradition and a modern reinterpretation of age-old ideas.

The type figures used in the Straw Bale Brewing mark (and display type on labels) were digitized by our friends at Bearded Studio – straight from their letterpress. These were printed using wood type, which we feel lends a classic and timeless character and an extra layer of interesting texture. Thanks, guys! (check out the Wood Type Revival website to keep up with the Beardeds while they secure the future wood type)

After a few years of waffling, and even a few failed attempts, I’ve started focusing on a new hobby – more of a deliberate distraction, really – homebrewing.

I could no longer ignore the craft beer culture. For years I have appreciated thoughtfully created and artisanal beer and wine simply as a matter of taste, although the recent trend towards buying and sourcing more locally has led me to look closely at craft beer in that way.

So, I started brewing. With the help of some knowledgeable friends and the support and tolerance of my wife, I have successfully gotten over the initial intimidation and have now brewed four distinctly different styles. I’ve even entered my latest – an oatmeal stout – into a local homebrewing competition in order to get some basic feedback and to help inform some improvements to my process.

So, considering that I haven’t had to dump any of it down the drain yet, I would say this qualifies as an official hobby, and as any designer would probably agree – that means it needs to be branded. It was inevitable that the design side of my brain would take over and this whole effort would undoubtedly need to be styled, color coded and organized into a system. Thus giving rise to another personal project – 234 Craftbatch Hand-Crafted Ales.

Of course, this is merely for the purposes of satisfying my own creative appetite, but nothing is more fulfilling that pouring a glass of something you crafted with your own hands that tends to be better than most you’ll find in the stores. On top of that, add a label created by you, and you’ve got one seriously tasty experience.

Comments welcomed.

Firm: Daniel Pipitone (freelance)

Laura Roman is a psychotherapist / hypnotherapy who is passionately results-focused. She uses an integrative mind–body approach to help trauma clients heal, helping them to replace automatic, defensive reactions to threats and fear with more productive responses. She also treats a broad spectrum of children, adults and couples, helping them overcome challenges, manage weight, quit smoking and improve their overall wellness.

Her identity highlights her practice’s unique approach to treatment – helping each client uniquely embrace their strengths, discard their limitations, solve their problems and live more successfully.

As a brand new practice with a limited operating budget, Laura Roman needed to focus her efforts carefully – first on an identity and and extending it to a brochure and business paper system and holding off on larger branding initiatives until costs can be recovered. By keeping expenses low and production simple, I helped her practice get off the ground while allowing them the breathing room to redirect much of their start-up capital to other much needed expenditures.

Firm: Daniel Pipitone (freelance)

It has been found that in rural communities where men and women tend to stay in traditional roles, where people avoid asking for help, and where there is less awareness of domestic violence and its impact on victims and children are communities where it is harder for domestic violence victims to seek out the resources they need.

That statement opened the first paragraph of the request for proposals I received from the Crisis Shelter of Lawrence County, speaking loudly to me that my involvement in this project seemed hardly like a choice. This factual information was followed up by what can only be described as truly disturbing statistics that were nothing short of astonishing and, frankly, difficult to accept. Enter the Crisis Shelter of Lawrence County, who was planning an ambitious Rural Family Violence Awareness and Intervention Initiative, aimed at changing this situation in Lawrence County and beyond with tools, resources and awareness messaging to put these issues (and the need to combat them) in the spotlight.

I responded by helping them create a integrated campaign with a full spectrum of materials, including outdoor boards, print media placement, TV and web-based video and a “toolkit” which carried a suite of printed collateral – postcards and large-format posters.

The campaign centered around the concept that, according to the facts and statistics, the cycle of abuse and violence is perpetuated by “silence” or doing nothing. The “equation” metaphor worked to get at this idea while the “Fight for Zero” tagline became the pivot point for the call to action. While statistics revealed information like “90% of date rapes involve alcohol”  the Crisis Shelter’s call to action becomes “Donate and Fight For Zero” or “Speak up and Fight For Zero.” In two phases (adult-specific and teen-specific messaging), the campaign worked to drive traffic to their website, fightforzero.org, which was created by Forward Trends, which offered an innovated set of counseling resources and informational tools – all free as part of the Crisis Shelters grant-funded initiative.

Website production by Forward Trends
Video production by Uppercut

Firm: Daniel Pipitone (freelance)

A recent study published by the University of Chicago followed a sample of young adults for six years, from the time when they were 17 or 18 years old and still living in temporary foster care. The results were troubling.  Only 7% of the young women and 5% of the young men had even an associate’s degree.  Fewer than half currently had a job, and most of those working were not earning a living wage (more than one quarter had no income from employment during the past year and half who had worked reported annual earnings of $8,000 or less).  Nearly 40% of these young people have been homeless or “couch surfed” since leaving foster care.  Most notably, as a group, these young people were less educated, more likely to be incarcerated, more likely to experience homelessness, and less likely to be employed than their peers who entered adulthood as part of a permanent family.

To bring awareness to this issue, and to better connect individuals with ways in which they can get involved, CASA of Allegheny County and the Allegheny County Department of Human Services banded together to host a rally on the steps of downtown Pittsburgh’s City-County building. Along with organizing talks by local former foster children, CASA and DHS also mobilized a “flash mob” with CASA and DHS staff members carrying life-size cut-outs representing the number of children currently within the foster care system.

To help support the promotion of the rally and drum up awareness for the Forgotten Child Campaign, I worked with CASA of Allegheny County to “brand the issue” itself, giving the Forgotten Child Campaign a unique identity and setting it apart from their other efforts. Along with postcard-sized handouts, we designed and set up a dedicated micro-site and communication mechanism to collect information from those interested in helping or attending the rally and to carry the momentum for the effort long after the event had past. The event was attended by over 100 people.

View the Forgotten Child Campaign website >

Image courtesy of ThoughtForm

I attended a great lecture by ThoughForm’s John Sotirakis recently as part of local printer Trust Franklin Press’ lecture series.

John, who is the creative director and branding guru from ThoughtForm’s (formerly Agnew Moyer Smith) team, took time out to describe a bit of a “behind the scenes” look into their process of developing a branding program. The gist of his talk was that, while a branding and identity program should appear to be simple and clear on its surface, much upfront work, planning and research is done in working with the client at the front of the process. Hence the “iceberg principle” – 90% of the branding effort is unseen. Having worked on John’s team during my career, his presentation reminded me of why he is one of the foremost thinkers (and a kind of a local hero) on the subject of branding. He, like me, is a self-proclaimed “branding geek” … another reason I love hearing him talk!

In his example of the American Planning Association identity (APA), the evaluation and planning tactics he used working with APA’s national governing organization and their associated local chapter sub units reminded me of some of the larger branding projects I have worked on, so this talk was especially interesting.

Here are some of the take-aways from my notes:

Branding can be organized into a four phase process:

1. Discovery (Understanding & Strategy)
2. Brand Structure (Articulation of the brand “picture”)
3. Brand Expression (Execution of branded elements / Design)
4. Guidelines (Standards, Templates and Guidelines for use)

Since it’s Discovery that constitutes much of the upfront analysis and planning work of a branding program, John spent the majority of the talk discussing this first phase.

1- Discovery:

Communications Audit

One of the most important parts of the Discovery phase is taking a look at all of the existing material within an organization. This can include external as well as internal communications collateral, templates, brochureware, etc.

John advocates a thorough process of evaluating each piece’s effectiveness across a spectrum of criteria. In other words, for a given brochure – how well does it express the desired personality of the brand? How well does it maintain the consistency of the brand’s parent pieces? How well does it the meet expectations?

Personality Profile

John also spoke about examining the brand from a personality profile standpoint. Much in the way traditional DISC or personality profiles are used to evaluate, a brand can be evaluated across a wide spectrum of traits. Ranging from one extreme to the other, John recommends looking across an organization and ask, “Friendly” or “Reserved,” “Outspoken” or “Subdued,” or even “beer” or “champagne.” By plotting where across a continuum these traits fall, it can give valuable insight into the target for a brands personality. John also suggests that this type of exploration should be done openly and publicly.

If Your Brand Was A Magazine

John also described an additional exercise as asking the branding team stakeholders a simple question:

“If your brand was a magazine, which one would it be?”

This is a clever and fun way to get to the heart of the perceived “personality” of a given brand in the eyes of those in charge. Again, John urges those who engage in this process to do so publicly.

Word Association

In the same way the brand’s stakeholders can help uncover the personality of an organization by describing it as a magazine, it can also be useful to articulate it with “gut reaction” word associations. “When I say ‘Process,’ you say ‘xxxx’ “

Position Statements

John also described a process that seemed familiar to us here in SEI Marketing, and that’s position statements. By breaking the branding team up into groups, A, B C and D, and asking each to write statements that describe the position (desired outcome) of the brand, useful information can be gathered. John outlined a template for these statements, following a “_______ + ______ + ______ = _______” approach.

Audience Survey

By using a series of qualitative questions and statements, John also outlined a process of measuring the audience perception across a “Agree” to “Disagree” continuum. This might include things like color theory, familiarity and statements that test a variety of hypotheses.

Competitive Benchmarking

As an interesting approach to measuring a given brand’s performance against other similar organizations, John revealed a useful “points distribution” system. By distributing a total number of points (20) across a series of criteria for a brand against other competitor brands, you can begin to see patterns or “thin spots” reveal themselves regarding these factors. This can be particularly useful in assessing the needs of the brand, or the kind of work a given identity system must do to support the goals of the organization. It may also uncover many issues that extend beyond the brand’s identity itself and may lend itself to consideration of factors deeper than the superficial public-facing presence.

Personas

Another familiar exercise described by John was to examine the brand from the perspective of a variety of relevant personas. In other words, how does a potential customer view our brand? A potential collaborator? An industry partner? A stakeholder? These all give a branding team useful insight into the end user.

Market Evaluation

John also discussed the process of market evalation by way of a quadrant plot approach. By using a 2 x 2 matrix, on one axis spanning from “Reactive > to > Proactive” and the other “Discreet > to > Outspoken” you can plot the perception of the brand by the stakeholders. This can also work to get to the heart of what makes up a brand’s stance on what it is willing and is not willing to say and do.

Define Success

John wrapped up his discussion of the Discovery phase by urging branding teams to finally ask another simple question of the branding team’s stakeholders; “What would success of the branding program look like?”

John also notes the importance of a “Brand Champion” within the client organization. It is most often incredibly difficult to gain and maintain the needed momentum for a successful branding program effort without the help and support of an internal resource. This “champion” makes certain that the branding effort maintains the presenence needed within and organization and keeps the “seat at the table.” Without this person at the center, it can be difficult for the effort to hold the priority it needs to among other issues.

2 – Brand Structure:

Understand and Articulate Brand Structure

From here, as John describes, the branding process moves to 2 – Brand Structure, where the branding program begins to take shape. The team begins to articulate the brand configurations of signatures / wordmarks and in context of any subrands or secondary business units.

3 - Brand Expression:

Design

Through the design process, the brand voice and personality is extended throughout the various pieces of collateral. Here is where we begin to see a “family” of material form, with common elements and theme tying the pieces together. This is where consistency in branding has real value and power, keeping the character of the brand firmly intact.

4 - Guidelines:

Documentation of Guidelines

As John points out, perhaps one of the most important final steps in any program is to document and articulate guidance for those who will be using or creating any the branded material. Not only is the “how-to” material critical, but it’s also important to relay the branding team’s findings and recommendations. These guidelines may take many forms including electronic, web-based or a traditional “kit.”

A big thank you to John Sotirakis for a fantastic talk, and for sharing a bit of the little known but critical thinking work we designers do.  This is a great reminder that what we do as “design thinkers” can have real business value. It’s the work of those like John that reinforces the shift that communication and information designers have made from “decorators” to “thinkers” and continues to legitimize our roles as strategic partners.

Firm: Daniel Pipitone (freelance – Pro Bono)

In the next phase of Emmanuel Christian Church’s new branding effort, we worked together on the redesign of their bulletin. After some initial usability discussion that resulted in some changes from their current format, we then pre-printed the bulletin shell, which ECC can run through their laser printer week-to-week for customized announcements and promotional information on the mostly blank inside front cover. Overall, this redesign works well to extend their new identity, paving the way for a new suite of highly visible materials that will encourage strong connections between ECC and its the congregation as well as the local Pittsburgh community.

Firm: Daniel Pipitone (Freelance – Pro Bono)

The friendly group at Greater Harmony Chorus in Pittsburgh, PA (a division of the Sweet Adelines International singing group) asked for a bit of help sprucing up their identity. I agreed, and donated a bit of logo development.

Using an abbreviated version of the brand exploration process used with Emmanuel Christian Church, I was able to expedite the process for them, making responsible use of everyone’s time. It was a great way to field-test this process again, and I can’t say enough about the ability of this approach to uncover some great insight about a brand’s personality. Thanks again, DK Holland!

Firm: Daniel Pipitone (freelance)

Taking into account the founder’s “vision,” an identity was created surrounding the idea of that Vision Marketing Group (VMG) is committed to working with clients who “understand the value of strategic thinking and appreciate how far our vision can take them.”

With this in mind, an identity was created to help launch VMG into their market with a clear focus and the ability to make an immediate emotional connection with potential clients. An enlightened feel and emotive “sunburst” graphical approach carry the identity.

/ VMG Background /

While their roots are planted in Western Pennsylvania, Vision Marketing Group’s reach extends far beyond. From their base in Punxsutawney, and with offices just outside Pittsburgh, the founder and his three sons work with an array of specialists in fields from branding to broadband, from market positioning to multimedia, from copywriting to corporate identity.

Visit VMG on the web >

Firm: Daniel Pipitone (freelance)

Previously, Advanticom already had a well-established name for itself nationally as a leader in IT services, consultation and technology infrastructure.

With a shift in focus and a new value proposition, Advanticom sought to reinvent themselves with a new identity to set them apart even more so.

I first participated in an intensive market research study and the crafting of a comprehensive communication plan. Once a clear strategy emerged, I began by creating the new identity system and worked with Advanticom to integrate the new mark into their corporate culture.

/ Advanticom Background /

Advanticom is in the business of designing, engineering, assembling and servicing IT solutions that help organizations become more efficient and more productive. Their strategy is simple: recruit people with the right experience and talent, cultivate knowledge and business savvy, and create a culture of excellence from top to bottom. It’s a strategy that produces powerful solutions for their clients.

Visit Advanticom >

Firm: Daniel Pipitone (freelance)

A fresh identity was created for Revolution Wellness to introduce the health and wellness start-up to potential investors, subscribers and used for all marketing materials, including sales / proof-of-concept presentations.

“Active lifestyle” and “lightness of being” were the watchwords for this identity’s creation. An important requirement was for the mark to become a personality that struggling dieters might be able to connect with on an emotional level easily and without intimidation.

Exercise and nutritional awareness are the keys to this plan, but they make no promises it will be easy. Revolution Wellness offers a strategy for holistic wellness through a total lifestyle shift.

/ RevolutionWellness Background /

RevolutionWellness is the result of one man’s heartfelt desire for wellness. A personal search for a balance in diet, exercise and emotional well being led to a platform from which he could share his research and plan for healthful success.

Visit RevolutionWellness.com >