Everything Starts with the Sun

Paul Bradford has three passions - outdoor adventure, proper beer, and sustainable living. He probably has more, but he hasn’t told us about them yet. After searching for designers in Plymouth, he came across Nick Dell’Anno and decided we were a good fit for his new project and contacted us.

The brief was to create naming, identity, and brand guidelines for a new adventure brewery at Par Sands, Cornwall. Then immediately follow up with all the print, product and online deliverables that grew out of the identity. Essentially, everything from the ground up. Make it market ready to sell into the multiples and South West pubs. 

What’s an adventure brewery? Paul’s the founder of Blue Dot Adventure, a highly successful outdoor pursuits company offering tuition and escapes around the UK for friends, families, corporate and military - kayaking, surfing, coasteering, paddleboarding, caving, climbing - anything that involves adrenalin and getting out into the fresh air. His dream was to bring all his passions into one place. So a micro brewery, a taphouse, and an outdoor adventure centre all in one. Oh, and throw in hand made pizzas for a bit of energy after all that exercise. Critically, the aim was to make the business 100% sustainable, zero carbon, within two years of launch.

The deadline was tight - a couple of months start to finish. But it was still essential to go through the full branding process: from Discovery: Who are you? How do you want your customers to see you? What’s your difference? - to Delivery: What do you need? When do you need it? Who do we bring in to achieve this?

The unifying creative idea came from establishing the new business’s core values of sustainability, adventure, owning local, and acceptance. What connected making craft beer, paddleboarding, kayaking, Cornwall and an open, non-cliquey atmosphere?

The Sun. It grew the hops to make the beer. It powered the brewery. It got people outside and away from their phones and Netflix binges. And it powers us, shines on all of us, at least some of the time. Especially in Cornwall. Conveniently, the Cornish word for Sun is Howl. Which is what a lot of people do when they’re trying to tame the waves on Par Sands.

So Howl Brewery was born. Dellanno Studio established a bright colour palette drawn from the local coastline (sand, gorse, heather and sea from Polkerris to Par) bold typography, striking designs that paid homage to Howl’s sister company Blue Dot, and simple, warm messaging that embraced enjoying life under the sun, being adventurous, appreciating good times and good refueling.

To get the project up and running in time, and to give the brand the life it deserved, Dell’Anno Studio brought in Nick Halford from Big Ups to hand paint the beautiful signage at the brewery, Stephen Smith (Neasden Control Centre) to develop the brand with murals and illustrations on site (and further afield), and Callum Campbell-Coles for animation and explainers (coming soon at howlbrewery.co.uk). All from Plymouth.