Toasting & Tasting: A Case Study

Toasting & Tasting is a fundraising event hosted by the Berkshire South Regional Community Center in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. As a non-profit, the Center hosts their largest fundraising event of the year in the fall. This event is traditionally advertised as a Gala and would normally be a ritzier affair, however, for Fall 2023 they decided to shake things up a bit. 

The Center loved the idea of expanding its membership base where they could, so I started brainstorming for ideas that would draw in the “Under 40” crowd. I did some chatting with the Director of Development & Communications for Berkshire South, and she had a few ideas of her own regarding which direction she wanted to go for with this re-design overhaul. She suggested something in the same vein as Oktoberfest, and I took that idea and ran with it.

I researched Oktoberfest for its origins, color scheme, and overall feel. Then I turned to my handy-dandy sketch pad and mapped out what the Toasting & Tasting event would encompass, and what would make sense to represent it. You see, this event hosts local (Berkshire-based) distilleries, wineries, breweries, and cideries, and brings them all into one place for attendees to graze on, socialize with other eventgoers, and participate in silent auctions. I made four lists of what came to mind with the words: beer, wine, cider, and distillery. When I found something under each category that applied to more than one of said-categories, I highlighted it and sketched it out to see what it could look like on paper.

 After scanning my hand-drawn items, I took them into Illustrator and started playing around with them. I wanted the aesthetic of a grain bag (my brain is a strange place, I know) so I threw the texture onto the illustrations, played around with the colors of Oktoberfest, threw some ink and stamp effects into the mix, and topped it off with American Typewriter—the result? I’ll let you take a look for yourself.

For more images from this rebranding, check out my page dedicated to Toasting & Tasting here.