Project Overview
- Brand design
- Packaging Design
- Marketing Collateral
- Website design and build
Project Background
Blackwater distillery is situated on the banks of the blackwater river, just outside cappoquin in beautiful West Waterford.
With an abundance of clean air, fresh water and plump barley, it’s the perfect setting for Ireland’s first craft whisky distillery. The owners, Peter and Caroline, approached us in early June to help them build a brand story and style for their new distillery. They already had the name which was a great start. We brainstormed different ideas and felt the strongest was the Blackwater River itself. With this in mind, we researched the history of distilleries in Ireland and abroad and completely immersed ourselves (quite literally) in all things gin and whisky related. First we designed the Blackwater Distillery logo and then the gin and whisky logos. We used the Blackwater River as a back drop to the logo and label design. Our inspiration was an original map of the Blackwater River from 1844 which we lovingly recreated. We were also influenced by the heron, a bird commonly found on the Blackwater River and strongly associated with its image. We are really enjoying this project and are currently rolling out the new identity and brand story across all their marketing collateral, including the website and printed material (leaflets, postcards, pull up stands etc.).banner stands and stationery items.
Blackwater Distillery is situated on the banks of the Blackwater River, just outside Cappoquin in beautiful West Waterford. With an abundance of clean air, fresh water and plump barley, it’s the perfect setting for Ireland’s first craft whisky and gin distillery. The owners, Peter and Caroline, approached us in early June to help them build a brand story and distinct style for their new distillery. This was very much a team effort and we have really enjoyed working with them these past few months.
Brand Strategy
They already had the name which was a great start. As for the visual identity, we spent a lot of time researching other distilleries around the world and immersing ourselves (quite literally) in all things gin and whisky related. For the main logo and label design, we used the Blackwater River as the backdrop. Our inspiration was an original map of the Blackwater River from 1844 which we lovingly recreated. We were also heavily influenced by the heron, a bird commonly found on the Blackwater River and very striking in appearance. We are really enjoying this project and are currently rolling out the new identity and brand story across all their marketing collateral, including the website and printed material (leaflets, postcards, pull up stands and stationery items). We count ourselves lucky that we get to work with people who share our passion for all things creative, and who dare to be different.
We love what we do and we believe it shows in our work.
Web Design
We built the website in WordPress because it has one of the best CMS (content management system) platforms on the market today. It also has one of the best e-commerce systems out there, which was very important, as the client wanted an online shop as part of the website. Key to making a success of the distillery was the ability to sell his produce online to customers at home and abroad. We pulled together all the imagery and content for the website and dealt with the card payment provider on their behalf. We also ensured it worked on every device (desktop, laptop, tablet, phone) and browser (Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Safari). See for yourself –
www.blackwaterdistillery.ie
In their own words
"As we'll be sharing shelf space with multi-national gins and whiskies, we needed very strong branding to quickly get our story across to customers. Passion were great at wrangling our ideas, knocking them into shape and adding their own sprinkle of magic dust. Ours is an on-going story and we look forward to working with the team at Passion in the months and years ahead".
Peter Mulryan - Blackwater Distillery
