Andy came to me wanting brewery branding with proper roots, not just a nice logo, but something rooted in where he’s from and what Four Priests actually means.
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The name comes from the priests Cedd, Betti, Adda and Diuma, said to have visited Sandbach in 653 AD. The Sandbach Crosses, Anglo-Saxon, ancient, brutalised and moved around over the centuries, now stand proud on the High Street cobbles. Andy wanted the brand to honour that history while sitting comfortably on a modern craft beer label.
I went and stood in front of the crosses until my fingers froze, sketchbook in hand. Then I went back to the studio and made something which mixed the old with the new. Here’s what we landed on.
primary Roundel Logo
A circular primary logo felt right for Four Priests from the start. Beer mats, bottle tops, pump clips, it’s a shape that belongs in the brewery world.
Landscape Logo
This is used as the secondary logo. For when a more standardised look is needed. Great for website navigations and other landscape use.
Portrait Logo
I always include a portrait for when it may suit the specific application best.
Other concepts used blackletter inspired typefaces but with this idea, I went with bold and modern to suit the clean monoline logo mark. It’s modified to sit better with the mix of sharp and rounded areas on the logo mark itself.
Logo Mark
The icon. Built from the carved heads on the crosses themselves, tidied up slightly for 21st Century rather than 653 AD. Available with and without the weathered surround. Both work depending on the application.
Primary Colour Scheme
Inspired by both Anglo-Saxon shields and also the stone against blue skies.
Secondary Colour Scheme
Andy also needed a secondary colour scheme. It had to work with the existing blues and stone of the primary but could be used to distinguish different brews at a glance on the shelves. Here we have the Stout, Amber, Pale and Traditional colours we’ll be running with.
Inspiration
The chosen concept was inspired by the knots near the top of the larger cross and the almost comical character heads carved throughout. I toned down the nose and chin slightly, the crosses are brilliant but the original faces are… a lot. 😄
It also features an actual cross shape and if you look hard enough there’s a faint keg in there too… says Andy after a few pints. Checks out!
I tried several versions of this mark, including ones that knotted into a circle and rougher treatments to mimic the carvings. This version came out on top, mixing the ye olde imagery with modern life, creating a very memorable mark.
Four Priests Brewery needed a core brand to resonate with consumers in an over saturated craft beer market. We make great beer and it’s tempting to think “it’s only a logo, we can do that ourselves too, right?”. Wrong.
In just an evening Liv gained a deep understanding of what is most important to us – our locality, our focus on community and the importance of quality in all that we do, and somehow managed to create a visual representation of those things in a powerful but elegant image.
I can’t understate how I felt when I saw the results of Liv’s creativity.
The first thing that our customers see when they experience our product is Liv’s work, not ours, and I’m proud that we partnered with such a professional.
Andy Thomason, Founder of Four Priests Brewery
What other ideas did I come up with?
Here’s what the process looked like before we landed on the winner. First I researched the history of the Sandbach Crosses, then sketched ideas on location in front of them, in February, which I don’t recommend. From carved heads and Anglo-Saxon runic monograms to the crosses themselves, then into wilder territory with actual emotive priests.
This is always the stage where the brief really opens up. The concepts below didn’t make the cut but they all came from the same place, a genuine attempt to do the history justice.
At this stage, it’s all still very much open to adjustments. Keen on a concept but don’t like a font? Not a problem. Colours aren’t working? Let’s narrow it down and try some others. Not keen on the layout? Okay, it’s not set in stone. From here we develop the idea. Once happy it’s polished off and wrapped up. Brand guidelines get created and extra brand collateral gets created. A logo is only the beginning…
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Andy has a Youtube series showing the ins and outs of setting up a brewery. Spoiler alert: it’s not easy and the red tape is everywhere! He’s gone from brewing at home to thinking “right, let’s do this” and getting himself a spacious starter unit down the road from Sandbach. He’s put in some serious hours to get it ready to brew 👉 Watch his journey here.
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Find out more about my process in the Clique Mojo project.
A few other logo marks and brand identities from across the years…
