Crafting a game-changing look and story with Skydance Brewing.
Jake Keyes opened Skydance Brewing roughly four blocks south of the Robot House studio—a deliciously dangerous distance since his IPA-focused operation produces some of the tastiest craft beers in the state. As Oklahoma’s first Native-owned brewery, Skydance had great momentum and strong PR, but lacked a brand story that tied Jake’s mission to the messaging, and he felt retail sales could strengthen with a more unique can label design system. So we got to work.
The brand identity of every small business should reflect the personality and vision of its founder, and in the case of Skydance, the concept of “identity” had even more resonance. Jake’s dream is to be an inspiration to the next generation of Native entrepreneurs, while also reclaiming Native storytelling from decades of stereotyping and appropriation. In our first conversation, Jake pointed to himself and said, “This is Native.” And we immediately had a theme for the brand.
Native culture is full of joy and celebration. It’s not the silent, stoic mysticism portrayed in American pop culture throughout the 20th century. We crafted a brand voice for Skydance that’s witty and clever, light and engaging, with occasional forays into gravitas when appropriate. Most of all, there’s strong emotion at its core. It subverts the clichés, and is reflected in more recent Native-focused pop culture like the series Rutherford Falls and the Oklahoma-based Reservation Dogs. Skydance is part of a new generation telling new stories with a foundation in real Native history and culture.
In order to really make a distinct splash from Skydance’s solid but unexceptional retail presence, we embraced bold colors that pop on the shelf from a distance, with easy to read typography and custom illustrations that give a fresh, humorous spin to the themes of Skydance’s core trio of beers: all types of modern footwear adorned with Native elements for ‘Fancy Dance,’ canines decorated in war paint for ‘Rez Dog,’ and all manner of faceless timepieces for ‘NDN Time,’ which we also helped name. A visual revitalization designed to make a statement to consumers.
