The creative window was 17 days.
When Jessica and Conner handed me a working prototype of their blind wine tasting game, I came in as a co-owner. That distinction matters. I wasn't executing a client brief. I was building something I had a stake in — which meant every decision carried the weight of that accountability.
The game mechanics were solid. The design was not retail-ready. My job was to take a functional prototype and turn it into a product that could live on a shelf, star in a commercial, and ship in time for the 2020 holiday season.
I rebuilt the game board from scratch. Designed the full packaging system. Created the wine keys, playing cards, and instruction booklet — all as a single cohesive system, all inside that timeline. The brand had to work in hand (physical product, tactile detail), at distance (shelf presence, thumbnail recognition), and on camera (Kickstarter video, press photography).
The Kickstarter campaign funded in 13 hours. First-year sales: 3,000 units. Press coverage across national lifestyle and entertainment outlets. The product was featured on national television. None of that happens without a design system that communicates trust, quality, and play — simultaneously, at every touchpoint.
Creative Direction
One product. Five decisions that had to work as one.
On the logo
The mark had to work at game-box scale and Kickstarter thumbnail scale simultaneously. Legibility at 40px was a design constraint, not an afterthought.
On packaging
Retail packaging for a game is a 6-sided brand impression. Every face was designed as a deliberate surface, not a required field to fill.
On the board
The board is the centerpiece of the play experience. It had to feel like something you wanted to photograph. That’s not decoration. That’s product design serving marketing.
On color
Deep, wine-stained richness against soft cream. The palette communicates category immediately, without saying the word “wine” before the consumer reads it.
On the 17-day window
Compressed timelines sharpen decisions. There was no time for misdirection. Every choice had to be right on the first pass. That discipline shows in the work.
Strategic Insight
The prototype made the game playable. The design system made it sellable. When Jessica and Conner handed me a working prototype of their blind wine tasting game, I joined the project as a co-owner, not simply as a designer executing a client brief. The mechanics were solid, but the product was not ready for retail. I rebuilt the board from the ground up and developed the packaging, playing cards, wine keys, and instruction booklet as one cohesive product system. Every decision had to work in the hand, on a retail shelf, at thumbnail size, and on camera. The full transformation happened within a 17-day creative window. Sommify went on to fund on Kickstarter in 13 hours and sell approximately 3,000 units during its first year. The result was more than a visual refresh. It was the conversion of a functional prototype into a recognizable, market-ready product and brand.
"A full design system in 17 days. Kickstarter funded in 13 hours."
"Funded in 13 hours because it looked like it deserved to be."
Andrew stepped in, asked the right questions, immediately took ownership, and delivered under a strict deadline. His ability to listen carefully, understand what is needed, and follow through with confidence and clarity blew my expectations out of the water.
— Connor Taylor, Sommify
Project Close
Sommify is what happens when brand design and product design refuse to be separate conversations. The system worked because it was built as one — identity, packaging, components, and campaign all sharing the same visual logic. The 13-hour funding window wasn’t luck. It was the product of a brand that looked like it had already earned its place on the shelf. That’s not a marketing outcome. That’s a design outcome.