Brief

It is always rewarding when a client comes along with a very clear vision for their brand and is able to clearly articulate the “feeling” it should project. Manx Whisky co-founder and distiller Magnus Grinneback is such a client.

Whenever we embark on a brand logo development project, we typically go through our standard “Soak & Scope” stage to help us extract both emotive and strategic motivations for a brand existence and meaning. Sometimes this can be very challenging for clients as we seek to nail down exactly what makes their brand tick.

In this instance, it was very straightforward. Given this is the first authentic Manx-made whisky, distilled locally and using local produce, the client knew exactly what the brand needed to represent and how it should look. The steer was to create a logo with a delicate blend of art deco and industrial chic with an added touch of Bauhaus for good measure.

Approach

With such specific visual theme parameters, our creative sandbox was clearly defined and our task was first to explore the boundaries of this vision. Initially we pushed the design elements in a number of directions while at the same time staying true to what the brand image needed to project.

After the stage-one logo development, we presented the client with a number of different ways we could meet the brief – it made it easier to provide a platform to allow them to articulate what was liked and not liked. We then went through some more stages where we refined the logo of choice and the colour palette.

Outcome

The resulting logo design is a distinctively crafted combination of the “industrial chic” and art deco themes which perfectly represent the ethos Magnus had visualised for the brand, along with a suitably minimalist typeface that talks to the simplicity of the product which is made using traditional methods on the Isle of Man.

The product itself has since won Gold and Silver at the World Whiskies Awards 2024 in the Young Spirit and New Make categories. This is a significant achievement for a tiny local distillery fighting well above its weight in the world of whisky distilling and we are very pleased to have played a small part in this brand’s success.