ThE REAL WINE CO.

Brand Strategy
& Identity System

A full rebrand for a 17-year-old independent wine retailer — repositioning the brand, improving ecommerce confidence and building a marketing system the internal team could own.

‍"The new website is performing very well — we're converting so many more new customers than before."  
— The Real Wine Co.

MY ROLE

Freelance Senior Brand Designer

Strategy · Identity · Marketing Systems · UI Design · Developer Collaboration · Team Training

The Challenge

A long-standing brand that had outgrown its identity — inconsistent across touchpoints and no longer reflecting the quality of the product offering.

THE APPROACH

Discovery and competitive research shaped a brand framework the internal team could confidently own and evolve independently from day one.

IDENTITY SYSTEM

A typography-led identity designed to feel warm, contemporary and flexible across every touchpoint.

CRM / SOCIAL / EMAIL

A modular toolkit including over 80 social templates, 4 Klaviyo email layouts and campaign frameworks, with team training built into the handover.

The Real Wine Co. social media templates and email marketing designs for wine campaigns.

WEBSITE

A customised Shopify experience developed in close collaboration with developers to fully embed the new identity into the digital experience.

ICONOGRAPHY & ILLUSTRATION

A bespoke illustration and iconography style designed to reinforce the brand personality and support navigation across digital touchpoints.

The Real Wine Co. iconography and illustration system for product pages, wine benefits and ecommerce navigation.

Positioning

Competitor analysis revealed a clear opportunity — few brands in the category were taking a contemporary, editorial approach.

Exploring initial directions

Three creative directions were explored — classic & refined, editorial & minimal, expressive & warm — before combining elements of each into the final identity.