Craft Brewery Brand Identity & Packaging System
Role
Brand Identity, Creative Direction, Illustration, Packaging Design, Merchandise & Environmental Applications
Watershed Brewing is a conceptual craft brewery brand inspired by the storytelling traditions of Pacific Northwest beer culture. The project explores how illustration and narrative can build community identity by turning each beer release into part of a larger fictional world centered around exploration, sound, and the ocean.
The brand was designed to reflect the collaborative spirit of independent breweries that partner with artists to create distinctive visual identities. Watershed’s narrative centers on an eccentric brewer who records whale songs along the Oregon coast, believing sound and water share a transformative connection. This mythology positions the brewery as curious, experimental, and deeply tied to its coastal environment while giving the brand a cohesive storytelling foundation.
The primary mark integrates a “W” with an abstract whale form, anchoring the identity in subtle symbolism. A recurring illustrated character, the Keg Man Diver, serves as the narrative guide across packaging and merchandise, appearing in evolving scenes tied to each beer’s concept.
Sonogram wave patterns reference recorded whale songs and function as a unifying graphic texture across cans, packaging, and environmental applications. A royal blue, yellow, and white palette draws from maritime visual language, reinforcing themes of ocean exploration, sunlight, and motion.
Watershed Brewing demonstrates how narrative world-building and illustration can extend a brand beyond packaging, creating an immersive identity system that connects product, place, and storytelling.
