Introduction

Context

The business began with the discovery of Meinong, a small town in southern Taiwan known for its rich cultural history and unique tobacco industry. Jonathan, captivated by the culture and history of tobacco, teamed up with his businessman brother, William, to create a business that celebrates and nurtures this unique culture and brings together individuals united by a shared passion for tobacco and the lifestyle it represents.

With the business established, we saw an opportunity to build a visual identity that not only attracts but also resonates with enthusiasts of the culture, communicating the business's dedication and creating a strong foundation for future growth.

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User Research

Questionnaires

Our visual identity project began with a thorough understanding of our client and their audiences. We used questionnaires to gain insight into the business, its goals, and the message they wanted to convey. This helped us to create a clear and compelling visual identity that effectively communicates the business's values and mission to its target audience. By taking the time to understand our clients and their audiences, we were able to create a visual identity that resonates with them and helps the business to stand out in the market.

Here are some example questions we asked for the questionnaires:

• Who are your intended target audiences?
• What Message do you hope to convey through the identity?
• What are the intended use cases for this logo?

Interviews

To ensure that our imagery and understanding of our client’s vision were aligned, we created a series of mood boards based on the information gathered from our initial questionnaire. We then conducted several interviews, using these visual aids as a reference to further clarify and solidify our understanding of our client’s needs and goals.

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Sympathize

Design Specifications

With a clear understanding of the project's direction and scope, we crafted a comprehensive design specifications document that outlined the deliverables and expectations for the final outcome. This document served as a crucial tool for gaining alignment and consent from our clients, ensuring that the final product exceeded their expectations and effectively communicated their desired message.

Style

To ensure that we fully understood the vision and message our client wanted to convey through their logo, we utilized a combination of questionnaires and interviews. To further align our understanding with that of our client, we created mood boards using visual references. With a clear direction in mind, we then began to develop a variety of logo styles, providing our clients with a comprehensive understanding of the potential final product. Through a series of discussions and revisions, we narrowed down our options and presented three distinct styles: a realistic approach, a graphic interpretation, and a playful mascot design. These options allowed us to effectively focus our efforts and ultimately deliver a logo that exceeded our client's expectations.

Identity Values

We also reach a consensus with our client about the values of this identity and they are defined as follows: Excitements / Diverse / Uniqueness / Acknowledgment / Enjoyment

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Ideate

Exploration

With a clear direction in mind, we set out to bring our concepts to life through refined sketches. Our team meticulously refined and narrowed down our ideas, carefully selecting the strongest options to present to our clients. These sketches represented the culmination of our efforts, a tangible representation of the direction we had chosen to take the project in. Through close collaboration and careful consideration, we were able to create a visual representation of our clients' vision that would serve as the foundation for the final design.

Solution

Final Design

Design Concept

Background Setting — The 1920s

During the Prohibition era, organized crime in the form of American gangs and fraternities emerged. Members would choose to join clubs that they felt the most aligned with, and these clubs would serve as a conduit for purchasing goods. These clubs would import goods from places like South America to the United States, making them highly sought after and hard to come by. Oh Yea! Clubhouse! continues this spirit by helping customers access the best and most unique products.

Visual Element

Copper Tub

During the Prohibition era, many businesses turned to produce their own alcohol in small batches made at home. One common method was using a copper bathtub to ferment and distill, which helped to purify the alcohol and improve its taste. The term "bathtub gin" was used to describe this homemade gin, popular among speakeasies for its consistent quality.

Blind Pig

During the Prohibition era, the term "blind pig" emerged as a clever way to disguise illegal drinking establishments. These lower-class establishments, often disguised as innocent businesses like saloons or bars, would charge customers to see an attraction such as an animal, and then slyly provide a "complimentary" alcoholic beverage as a way to circumvent the law. Our visual element of the blind pig is a nod to this cunning and resourceful aspect of America's Prohibition history.

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Handoff

Design Guidelines

As the deliverables of this project, I designed the colored, outlined, and inverted versions of each of the three sizes of this identity. I also created a document of guidelines to suggest the usage of logos as long as the typography and the colors. In addition, I generate mockups of the logos on various media as the size and shape of their products are assorted and diverse. Putting the logos in context helps to facilitate communication between our clients and their business partners.

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