Brand Identity & Design System
Some projects land in your inbox and you know immediately that they’re going to be something special. When I was approached to develop the complete brand identity for Platz Beer Garden (platz.beer) in Keene, New Hampshire, I was genuinely honored. Building a brand entirely from scratch for a brand-new business with no visual history, no existing identity, and a completely blank canvas, is one of the most exciting and rewarding challenges a designer can take on. This was exactly that kind of project.
Starting From Scratch
Because Platz Beer Garden was a new business launching from the ground up, there was no existing logo to refresh or color palette to evolve. We started with nothing but a name, a vision, and an extraordinary space. That’s actually the best (but most intimidating) starting points. No constraints, no baggage, just the freedom to build something truly original and purpose-built from day one.
The first and most important step was understanding the space itself. Platz Beer Garden is housed in a beautifully converted old church in Keene. A stunning venue with soaring ceilings, rich architectural details, and most notably, breathtaking original stained glass windows. The moment the team saw those windows, the creative direction was clear.
The Logo: Inspired by Stained Glass
The stained glass artwork in the building isn’t just a design detail, it’s the soul of the space. Those windows carry history, craftsmanship, and a visual richness that immediately sets Platz apart from any typical bar or beer garden experience. It would have been a missed opportunity not to draw from them.
The primary logo takes direct inspiration from the geometry, color segmentation, and ornate elegance of stained glass design. The result is a mark that feels rooted in the character of the building while still being clean, modern, and versatile enough to work across every application — from a pint glass to a billboard. It’s a logo that tells the story of the place before a single word is read.
Logo Variations
A great logo doesn’t just work in full color on a white background, it has to perform in every context. From the primary mark, I developed a complete family of logo variations to ensure Platz always looks its best no matter where the brand appears.
This included a solid white version for use on dark backgrounds, photography overlays, and merchandise; a solid black version for single-color applications like embroidery, stamps, and print situations where color isn’t available; and a simplified icon mark — a distilled version of the logo designed specifically for social media profile images, app icons, and other small-format uses where the full logo would lose its detail. Together, these variations give the brand team everything they need to represent Platz consistently and confidently.
The Brand Guide
With the logo family complete, I developed a comprehensive brand guide. The definitive reference document for how the Platz identity should be used, protected, and expressed across every medium.
The guide covers the complete logo suite and proper usage rules, minimum size requirements and clear space guidelines, the full color palette with precise color values across print and digital formats, typography selections and hierarchy, and detailed direction on how the brand should appear across all media, from signage and print to digital and social. The goal of a brand guide isn’t to restrict creativity; it’s to ensure that no matter who is designing for Platz — whether it’s the in-house team, a printer, or a sign company — the brand always looks intentional, cohesive, and unmistakably Platz.
Bringing the Brand to Life
A brand identity only truly comes alive when you see it applied in the real world. As part of this project, we extended the Platz visual identity across a wide range of applications:
Corporate Identity — Letterhead and business cards were designed with the same care and attention as the logo itself, giving every piece of correspondence a polished, professional presence that reflects the quality of the brand.
Posters & Billboards — Large-format promotional materials put the stained glass-inspired aesthetic to work at scale, creating eye-catching pieces that carry the warmth and character of the space out into the community.
Apparel — Staff apparel and branded merchandise are often the most visible touchpoints a brand has. The logo variations and icon mark were adapted for apparel, ensuring the brand looks just as sharp on a t-shirt or hat as it does anywhere else.
Beer Mugs — And of course, the most important canvas of all: the beer mug. Seeing the Platz mark on a branded pint glass is the moment the brand becomes fully real, and the stained glass-inspired logo looks absolutely at home there.
From blank canvas to a fully realized, multi-platform brand identity, the Platz Beer Garden project is one I’m incredibly proud of. It’s a reminder of why I love this work: great design doesn’t just make a business look good, it tells the story of who they are before the first impression is even made. Prost! 🍺
