Gin & Luck logo design

Above is the final logo design I recently finished for a new cocktail lounge in L.A. The bar itself hasn't even broken ground yet, so I can't give up too much information at this point. But I did get the OK to post the logo and a bit of the design process through the sketches below:

I wanted to try out a range of options in the sketch stage, since we weren't entirely sure of the look it should have. But in our research, classic establishments like Canter's, Musso & Frank's the Cotton Club, and even the Moulin Rouge Hotel in Las Vegas had signage with a certain design flair that we really liked, and inspired a sort of Old Hollywood approach to some of these (as well as several less-successful attempts that i'm not posting).

That last sketch ultimately won out over the others, so I spent a good amount of time tweaking, skewing, and reworking it until I got it to the final, polished logo. The Art Deco inspired starburst graphic (at top) was a late addition, and will likely end up being used in more specialized applications of the branding.

Proprietor's Barrel whiskey label

Wow, this is my first post in a couple of months! Just when I think I'm getting pretty consistent with my posts, I end up falling behind again.. Well, you haven't missed anything TOO incredibly exciting. Things slowed down a bit over the holidays, as they normally do, but work has been picking up again the last couple weeks. Here are some of the things I've been up to: a 4-illustration assignment for Dwell magazine; 3 illustrations for Samatamason in Chicago for a video-conferencing client; identity and menu design for a new bar in LA; label design for a special batch of Wild Turkey whiskey; new designs for a couple of wine labels; concepts for new promotions and portfolios for 2010.

Some of these recent jobs are still ongoing, and others are not out yet, so I can only post images for the Wild Turkey label I designed. Wild Turkey agreed to produce a special batch of their Single Barrel Bourbon for the bar Death & Company, and to throw a party at the bar with their Master Distiller (Jimmy Russell) in attendance to sign the bottles. The name of the whiskey is Proprietor's Barrel, it is incredibly delicious, and here are the images to prove it:


P.S. I had to keep my design relatively close to an existing label they use for this bottle shape, using similar fonts, colors, and the same label shape/size. We didn't want the design to fall too far from the existing strength of the Wild Turkey branding.