Portland's craft beer scene doesn't lack for personality, but Beer O'Clock -- a bottle shop and taproom in the city's West End -- wanted something that felt genuinely its own. ChefStable Group, one of Portland's most prolific food and drink operators, brought me in to make that happen.

The Work

Starting from a sublimely simple core concept, I led a small team of some of Portland’s coolest creatives, and developed a complete brand system and carried it through every touchpoint: identity, marketing tools, signage, packaging, website, and even the interior environment. The challenge with a brand like this is coherence at wildly different scales -- it has to work on a bottle cap and a wall mural, a coaster and a storefront. Getting that right meant the concept had to be airtight from the start, so that's where I spent the most time.

Takeaway

The best bar branding feels familiar in a way that makes it seem like it was always there. That was the assignment.