Back in 2006 when Second Glass was founded our design budget was low and we went through several iterations of logos. We were trying to search for a brand and logo that showed the world who we were. We wanted a logo that made us look like who we were, a company that was young, empowering, doing something different for the typical wine scene, and at our core about wine, people, learning and having fun.
After going through a few different logos in our first few months, we decided on a logo that lasted three years. But as time passed we realized more and more how tricky it was to build a brand off that particular logo.
In 2009 we started working with Holly Gordon and really began building a consistent design, but it seemed more and more like we had to work to incorporate our logo into things — instead of drawing inspiration from it. While working on branding for our event Wine Riot, we ended up having two logos on printed materials, one for Wine Riot and one for Second Glass, which was confusing and did not help sell people on our brand.
Luckily enough in the beginning of 2010 Greenhorn Connect posted the open office hours for Alphabet Arm Design, a logo and design team based in Boston’s South End. Our entire staff loves Alphabet Arm’s work so we were excited to get a chance to chat with Aaron, President and Head Designer, for about 15 minutes, free of charge. In the meeting we discussed our problems and listened to Aaron explain how important it was to have a STRONG main logo that would easily build a “family” of designs around it, so that everyone was aware it was from the same company. After a week or so of letting the idea kick around in our brains, we decided Aaron had been right in his consulting – we needed a new logo to build our brand around.
The team at Alphabet Arm listened to what we were looking for in a logo, checked out the wine logo landscape and gave us several versions that we were able to look through and refine to exactly what fit us. They were really easy to work with and they knew when to stay strong on their ideas and when to listen to what we wanted.
YAY for our new logo that can stand alone BUT also works when incorporated with Wine Riot and all of our other projects!
Thanks for the write-up guys! It was a pleasure to work on the logo, and we’re all psyched to see it in use already.