A Central Coast Icon

Santa Maria Brewing Co.

SANTA MARIA, CA

Established in 1994, Santa Maria Brewing Co. is the Central Coast's award-winning brewery. Santa Maria Brewing Co. is a brewer of premium beers. It was originally founded in Nipomo, California by brewmaster Dan Hilker as a brewpub selling Dan's hand-crafted brews. Today, they still brew the best beer the Central Coast has to offer, with a new brand to boot.

We began the process by leading a strategic survey of Bearded Iris' history, story and identity. But even more crucial was where they wanted to go. The founders take most of their inspiration from the lifestyle brands of which they are fans: Asics and Adidas, Beats by Dre and Supreme. The existing, roughly-sketched iris mark did not convey anything about who they were, and didn't serve the iconic function that marks from other lifestyle brands do. Their loosely-nouveau typefaces weren't setting the right tone, either. The watchwords we used throughout the whole project were "Less is way, way more."  -  evidenced by the streamlined packaging for Homestyle, the first of several year-round products BIBCO will be releasing in the coming years. Herb Lubalin, designer of the famed Asics Tiger logo we all loved so much, designed almost all of the typefaces we elected to use for the brand. Staying true to style was key.