girl. dog. truck. wines

when a new client comes to us through a word-of-mouth referral, we can almost always rest easy that it’s going to be a person who is — well, let’s face it, it’s usually somebody who we just want to hang out with.

Nicole fits that description. we had tons of fun developing her brand with her. she came to us with a decided name for her wine: girl. dog. truck., but she also came concerned that any logo designs might tended toward too-sweet and too-literal for her taste. as in: “yup, there’s the girl, the dog AND the truck.”

we assured her we could find the balance. we listened to her tales of cross-country road trips, strained suspensions, her ever-present German Shepherd companion, and long nights on the crush pad in a headlamp. and we were armed with the stories we need to build a brand that reflected its owner.

the initial design drafts we sketched pulled in elements like vintage maps, the compass rose & route lines, but the ideas on paper fell flat. they lacked the luster of the road trip, the spark of travel, the passion and eagerness of this winemaker. we backed up in our process and sketched micro-elements from her travels and her wine making process at a solar-powered facility to try to capture the spirit of who she is and what she does. we landed on a dirty, road-worn tire track.

and bingo. a brand was born.

next we applied the logo to her business card and wine labels. what we love about this brand is that it not only captures something of the essence of the woman behind the brand, but it also has an undeniable truth in the wine industry, which appears so shiny and refined from the outside and yet is made up of strings of days of gritty work. when the grit of the tire tread is applied to a wine label design that’s making good use of clean, modern type and clear definition of space, what appears gritty is now refined. it’s a brand that cleans up real nice.

to read more about girl. dog. truck. and what makes this brand (and winemaker) so special, check out her website we created for her.

and next time you’ve got the urge to become a road warrior, stock up on some Cab Sauv or Russian River Zin. this stuff’s legit. purchase her wines directly from the g.d.t. website or at Bottle Barn in Santa Rosa. you can also find it on restaurant wine lists in Northern California and Los Angeles.

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