Cognition Winery: Experiential Wine Branding Through Abstract Design

The Challenge: Depicting the Experiential Element

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.

This challenge requires:

• Experiential element: Logo can depict experiential element of name
• Feel after drinking: How one feels after drinking wine
• No wine bottles: No wine bottles in logo
• No traditional symbols: No traditional Park City symbols
• Not pigeon holed: Don’t want to be pigeon holed

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

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 works because:

• Experiential element: Depicts experiential element of name
• Feel after drinking: Shows how one feels after drinking wine
• Modern abstract: Modern, abstract iconic logo
• Simplicity: Simplicity at its core
• Hand crafted: Shows hand crafted nature of wine
• Positive experience: Depicts positive experience of enjoyment of wine

Results: A Brand That Depicts the 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, creating a modern, abstract iconic logo with simplicity at its core that shows the hand crafted nature of the 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.

Today, Cognition Winery uses this brand identity to attract customers in Park City resort town, positioning them 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.