Design Leadership Experience

To be in a leadership position, within a team, can be an extremely rewarding experience. It comes with a responsibility to effectively communicate a vision, gather and assess information, and execute the product that aligns with stakeholders. I was the design leader at a brewery, where we wanted to reinvent our brand image and product line. A new team was brought in, including myself, to take a fresh approach at brewing and marketing. My experience was in management of cold-side production, packaging, procurement, and small batch brewing. My interest was in design and marketing. This led to Research and Development of new beer styles and branding. I collaborated with sales, management, the head brewer, tap room employees, kitchen staff, and production team. I wanted to know what the eyes and ears of the brewery were seeing and hearing. I wanted to know what other people in our business enjoyed. The question was, “How do we elevate the perception of our brewery and increase sales?”

That’s where the challenges and excitement came in. I needed to show the stakeholders in the company that change is good. To do that, a clear path needed to be defined and communicated appropriately. So, I asked myself, why were our sales down? How could we improve our products? What were other successful and unsuccessful breweries doing? What did we need to do to create an amazing experience, whether it be visiting the brewery in person, or consuming our product elsewhere? I looked for the pain points within our brand. I approached these challenges as an experienced consumer, not as an employee with tunnel vision.

As I mentioned earlier, collaborating with the team was essential. I conducted a survey about our lineup of beer styles and packaging labels. I asked questions about the label design, the graphics, and the overall flavor profiles. Next, we created a poll to give out to customers in the taproom. It was a questionnaire about their favorite styles of beer and what they would like to see us produce. From this information, I was able to show evidence about the pros and cons of our brand, and what consumers wanted. As a team, we had a meeting every Monday in person with management/ owners to discuss the week and plans going forward. Here we had the opportunity to discuss the data, address the problems, highlight benefits, and set goals. I was able to put together a plan of how I envisioned the growth of the company.

First is creating excitement around new, limited releases as “test batches” for in-house customers only. We would brew new styles, incorporate uncommon flavors and experiment with different ingredients. It’s important to tell a story about the beer and its origin. Giving the customer that extra information to grab onto provides an experience. As they begin to consume the product they will take notice of the color, the aroma, the mouth feel, which ultimately helps dictate the final taste. They may look for the ingredients you described when drinking. Wild harvested blueberries from Maine and hand-picked spruce tips from Colorado can create a very unique and rare tasting experience for the customer who may have never known or cared before. We discovered not every small test batch was a complete success. The interesting thing about that is that people were now curious about what may come out next. A “following” has been created.

The next installment came in the form of glassware. The type of glassware served with the style of beer is very important in the overall design and drinking experience. Most establishments serve a basic, thick pint glass and it does nothing to enhance the product. The team got together and explored options that enhance the product, fit well in your hand, and are aesthetically pleasing.

In the final design stage comes packaging and labeling. Each style and case have its own answer. Bottles, cans, large, small etc. In the current market, your label design is what ends up selling or not selling. With so many competitors in the market it has become extremely difficult to stand out. Many consumers have never consumed the product before purchasing but will decide based on the label. To create a design and purchase all the packaging, shareholders need to feel confident that this product fits their goals as well. Feedback and sales observed in the early stages of design will give shareholders confidence to move forward and scale up their investment.

Being the design leader in this project I learned information and confidence is key. You need to back up your theory and vision with evidence. You need to have solutions to problems to get the green light to try new things. Collaborate with your team and gain knowledge and insight into areas you may not have thought of yourself. Use this feedback in decision making and identifying improvements. You might not succeed the first time around but continue testing new adaptations and prototypes. Actively listen, and correct issues early. Design leadership is about driving innovation and in the future I wish to continue to push myself and others in this direction.