Mission
Une Année, an Independent Craft Brewery, was born in 2013 on the near west side of Chicago, with the quest of making fine Belgian inspired ales for all beer lovers.
Objective
To integrate the brand voice and environment in a cohesive and approachable way.
Bring warmth and congeniality to a multifaceted space
Taking into considerations the various components of the existing brand, we responded to the needs for exterior walls and signage, including the challenge of directing visitors to the back entrance of the building.
Budget and the city of Niles sign codes became a major factors in design decisions regarding exterior signage. When approaching interior spaces, Bri came up with finishes, including tile, paint, wood veneer, furniture, a seating layout, a merchandise shelving unit, and banquette, serving the purposes of space divider, seating, and trash receptacle.
The client has modified the original design, shifting the trash receptacle portion to the side of the banquette, but the main idea of this featured piece was integrated into the final space. We brought in a sophisticated yet whimsical approach, including messaging made of letters made from bottle caps, an art installation commemorating the time the Chevy crashed into the entrance of the Tap Room, a garden sculpture made from the old brewery sign from the strip mall, a neon sign phonetically spelling out ‘Ooh-Hah-Nay’ for newcomers who may not know how to pronounce the name of the brewery, named after its beer.
Now complete, the space takes on the embodiment of Une Anné and Hubbard’s Cave brands with a warm and congenial atmosphere. The addition of the Joe Renda mural of the aspen trees with eyes and birds adds to this spirit.
Designers: Bri Elliot (Interior Designer), Josephine Lo, Livnelly Molina, Sara Griffin, Shannon Garcia, Tanner Puzio, Trunoe Perry, Yesenia Melara, Sarah Faust, myself.
PHOTO CREDIT TO UNE ANNEE BREWERY
My Role
When we began the project, I took it upon myself to take the approximate size of the building and scale it down to a manageable size in Illustrator files for everyone to use. Over time, the files evolved with textures to look better for presentations, but the basic files and their sizes proved useful for proper scaling of signage and other materials.
I took responsibility of the hallway wall as well, helping put together a couple concepts and pulling ideas from the packaging of the beer to come up with the vinyl wall that ended up becoming a reality.
The team collaborated overall, despite breaking up into small groups or individual teams that took care of certain sections. We each came up with ideas for outdoor signage, helped each other make decisions on sizing and materials to use, worked in each others files to improve each others work, and together came up with a lot of concepts that were creative that didn’t end up in the final building design (yet!).
Process
