WINE NERD IN PROGRESS
A vibrant brand design for a modern wine sommelier breaking into an old-world market
My Role
Lead Brand Designer
Timeline
2 Months
Tools
Illustrator, Photoshop,
Pen & Paper
Educate
✦
Explore
✦
Enjoy
✦
Educate ✦ Explore ✦ Enjoy ✦
Project Overview
Wine Nerd in Progress needed a visual identity as layered and approachable as a good glass of wine. The goal was to build a brand from the ground up for training Sommelier Jennifer Daszczyszak — one that could grow alongside her journey from enthusiastic blogger to full-time sommelier, distributor, and importer. The brand needed to feel credible enough for industry professionals while remaining warm and welcoming to everyday wine lovers just starting to explore.
Challenges
The central tension was balancing expertise with accessibility. Wine can feel intimidating — and a brand for a sommelier-in-training risks leaning too formal, too fast. The identity also needed flexibility: a visual system that could carry Jennifer's personal voice today and scale into a full business platform tomorrow. Ensuring color accessibility (particularly yellow on light backgrounds) while maintaining the brand's warmth added an additional layer of technical complexity.
Strengths
The result is a brand that leads with curiosity rather than authority. A rich teal-and-gold palette signals sophistication without stuffiness, while the illustrated wine-bottle logo — complete with its playful cat perched atop — gives the brand genuine personality. The typographic pairing of Fino Sans with rounded secondaries keeps things distinctive yet legible across digital and print. Most importantly, the identity mirrors Jennifer's voice on the blog: knowledgeable, adventurous, and always inviting you to pull up a chair.
Product Mockups
FINAL LOGOS
Primary Logo
(Website, Business Cards, Company Documents)
Secondary Logo
(Products, Print, Packaging, Social Media)
Submark Logo
(Social Media, Favicon, Email Signature)
The Client wanted to incorporate earthy and ephemeral elements into the branding to evoke a sense of natural curiosity, but also wanted to add a feline-style element as a nod to her beloved cats. The cat-shaped bottle stopper and the illustrated grapes added a touch of playfulness and curiosity without being too overbearing.
MOODBOARD
