WIP Wednesday | Istanan Wines

Welcome to the very first WIPWednesday! A day dedicated to “Work-in-Progress” or recently completed projects!

So, to start off, I’ll introduce Istanan(ee-stuh-naan) Wines.

Istanan Wines was founded by my client Monoke; and while small, he is positioning his business to be an acting sales representative for South African vineyards in order to increase marketshare in Japan. As of this writing, Japan imports the majority of its wine from Chile, Peru, California, Italy, and France. Each of these countries have a strong presence and relationship with Japan, so ensuring a positive first impression on behalf of his fellow countrymen was paramount to the logo’s message and appearance. This was eventually realized in the rustic nature of the typeface and significance behind the name “Istanan”. But the design wasn’t always planned in such a way.

After a short consultation with Manoke in regard to the type of image he desired and mission for his business, I originally considered incorporating the shape of South Africa’s borders into the design of a grape bushel. However, not many people are actually familiar with the shape of South Africa. In addition, the subtleness of such a logo wouldn’t be as appreciated or easily identifiable as more well established shape design i.e; a wine bottle. Therefore, I eventually abandoned the idea, for a direct typographical approach. I think this allowed the uniqueness of the business name to shine through my design unencumbered by unnecessary design details.

For the sake of privacy I have redacted some personal information. However, you can see the notes and relatively short design process I engaged in to bring the design to fruition. A print of the finished card is visible in the top right corner of the previous image. You can find the front and back of the business cards below.

In short, Manoke was pleased with the product. So I’m quite happy my process was successful, considering I wasn’t very familiar with the product or enterprise during the pitch. But after some research and a little digging, we came up with an agreeable path. Have you ever designed for a product you were unfamiliar with? How did you reconcile design issues? What would you have done differently? Leave your comments below~