Cognition Winery: Experiential Wine Branding Through Abstract Design

Situation: Creating Brand Identity for First Winery in Park City

Cognition winery is a small, boutique winery located in the year round resort town of Park City, Utah. The owner-winemaker has experience in all phases of wine making and operations, in the US, Italy and France.

Their winery is the first and only of it’s kind in Park City, with a total of only 5 wineries existing in the entire state of Utah.

The wine market requires brands that communicate quality, experience, and uniqueness. Cognition Winery needed a brand identity that would depict the experiential element of their name while avoiding traditional wine industry clichés.

Task: Create Brand Identity Depicting Experiential Element

The wine brand identity brief was simple yet complex. The challenge required:

Experiential element: Logo that can depict experiential element of name
Feel after drinking: Visual identity that shows how one feels after drinking wine
No wine bottles: Logo design that avoids wine bottles
No traditional symbols: Brand that avoids traditional Park City symbols
Not pigeon holed: Brand identity that doesn’t pigeon hole the winery

Brand Strategy: First Winery in Park City

Like many other wineries, Cognition Winery grapes are sourced from prestigious appellations in California, Oregon, Washington and Italy. Cognition creates varietals and blends of wines on site in the Park City winery that will be food friendly and approachable. Park City is the brand’s home, and the owners see it as the perfect location for this type of venture as it creates a niche in the popular resort town well known for fine dining, exceptional skiing and outdoor activities, wealthy primary and secondary homeowners, and The Sundance Film Festival.

The wine brand identity brief was simple yet complex. The client did not want wine bottles in the logo or traditional Park City symbols as they did not want to be pigeon holed. The client hoped that their logo can depict in some way the experiential element of our name and how one feels after drinking our wine.

This brand strategy works because:

First winery: First and only winery in Park City
Boutique winery: Small, boutique winery in resort town
Prestigious appellations: Grapes sourced from California, Oregon, Washington, Italy
Food friendly: Creates food friendly and approachable wines
Resort town: Perfect location in popular resort town
Fine dining: Well known for fine dining and activities
No pigeon holing: No wine bottles or traditional symbols

Action: Strategic Brand Development

Brand Strategy: First Winery in Park City

This brand strategy:

Positions as first: First and only winery in Park City
Emphasizes boutique: Small, boutique winery in resort town
Highlights appellations: Grapes sourced from prestigious appellations
Focuses on food: Creates food friendly and approachable wines
Leverages location: Perfect location in popular resort town
Avoids pigeon holing: No wine bottles or traditional symbols

Logo Design: Modern Abstract Icon with Simplicity

Starting with the brand name, the definition of cognition that we particularly liked was: “Cognition is the act or process of knowing, including perceiving, recognizing, conceiving and reasoning. Cognition is a group of mental processes including attention, memory, learning, reasoning, problem solving and decision-making”

We wanted to create a logo that depicts the positive experience of the enjoyment of wine. So we pushed the envelope in terms of creating a modern, abstract iconic logo with simplicity at it’s core. We wanted to show the hand crafted nature of the wine.

This logo design:

Depicts experiential element: Depicts experiential element of name
Shows feel after drinking: Shows how one feels after drinking wine
Creates modern abstract: Modern, abstract iconic logo
Ensures simplicity: Simplicity at its core
Shows hand crafted: Shows hand crafted nature of wine
Depicts positive experience: Depicts positive experience of enjoyment of wine

Result: Brand Identity That Depicts Experiential Element

The brand identity we created for Cognition Winery successfully depicts the experiential element of the name and how one feels after drinking wine. The comprehensive brand transformation delivers:

Strategic Outcomes

Experiential element: Logo successfully depicts experiential element of name
Feel after drinking: Visual identity successfully shows how one feels after drinking wine
No wine bottles: Logo design successfully avoids wine bottles
No traditional symbols: Brand successfully avoids traditional Park City symbols
Not pigeon holed: Brand identity successfully avoids pigeon holing
Complete brand system: Modern abstract logo with simplicity creates unified experience

Implementation Success

Today, Cognition Winery uses this comprehensive brand identity to attract customers in Park City resort town. The modern, abstract iconic logo with simplicity at its core that shows the hand crafted nature of the wine successfully depicts the positive experience of the enjoyment of wine. The logo design avoids wine bottles and traditional Park City symbols to avoid being pigeon holed, positioning them as Park City’s first and only boutique winery creating food friendly and approachable wines from prestigious appellations in California, Oregon, Washington and Italy. The brand successfully positions Cognition Winery as a small, boutique winery that creates a niche in popular resort town well known for fine dining, exceptional skiing and outdoor activities, with owner-winemaker having experience in all phases of wine making and operations in US, Italy and France, with brand identity depicting positive experience of enjoyment of wine through modern abstract design.