"The new website is performing very well — we're converting so many more new customers than before."
— The Real Wine Co.
MY ROLE
Freelance Creative Lead
Strategy · Identity · Marketing Systems · UI Design · Developer Collaboration · Team Training
The Challenge
A long-standing brand built on genuine relationships with small producers — handpicked wines, no middlemen, a loyal following grown almost entirely by word of mouth. The identity hadn't kept pace. Inconsistent across touchpoints and no longer reflecting the quality of what was being sold, it was losing customers before they'd even looked at the wine.
Competitor research across ten independent wine brands revealed a clear opportunity — most were either leading on discount or leaning into tired traditional wine codes. The new identity had room to be something neither: contemporary and characterful, warm without being folksy, premium without the snobbery.
A typography-led identity designed to feel warm, confident and contemporary — without tipping into premium-for-premium's-sake. Flexible enough for a carrier bag, a Klaviyo email, and the bottle sticker customers use to find their way back to a wine they loved.
A modular toolkit including 80+ social templates, 4 Klaviyo email layouts and campaign frameworks. Handover tutorials ensured the team could update the site and produce new assets independently from day one.
A customised Shopify experience developed in close collaboration with developers to fully embed the new identity into the digital experience.
A bespoke illustration and iconography style designed to reinforce the brand personality and support navigation across digital touchpoints.
A deep dive into ten competitors mapped the visual codes of the category — colour, typography, logo approaches and imagery. The goal was two-fold: bring the brand up to industry standard after years of inconsistency, and identify where there was room to do something more distinctive.
Three creative directions were developed, each translating the brand values into a distinct visual world. The starting point for each was feeling — how the customer actually experiences wine — rather than aesthetics alone.
Artisanal Essence — The beautifully surprising feeling of discovering new wines and flavours from producers you wouldn't have known otherwise.
Modern Elegance — The special feeling of experiencing premium quality gems for a great price in the intimate setting of a wine cellar.
Family Vineyard — The intimate, warming feeling of sharing a bottle of wine with the people you love in a relaxed setting.
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