The cannabis industry is kind of like the wild west right now... a highly desireable product with little regulation or quality assurance leaves consumers lost or hoodwinked with substandard products. Windward is the antidote. With high quality, organic, lab tested ingredients and ethical business pratices, Windward is the real deal. I partnered with them to develop a brand and visual identity system and helped them tell that story at every touch point.

The Challenge

With so many CBD brands popping up constantly and doubiously making similar claims with no legitimacy, how will we stand out from the crowd? It’s a noisy marketplace where most companies are peddling the same product to a generalized audience, and that’s where I found an opportunity to differentiate.

The Approach

Most cannabis companies try to appeal to the largest audience possible with a focus on their prodct. To differentiate, I developed Windward as a lifestyle brand with a verry specific segment of the market in mind. Market research exposed the idea that the Windaward customer values experiences over things which lead to the North Star: It’s not about the product, it’s about the experience.

Visual Identity System

The Windward audience lives for the outdoors, so we chose to position Windward as an outdoors lifestyle brand. Looking to the California landscape to inspire our design system was an easy choice and provided me with endless reference material to help develop a rich and unique brand.

Packaging

This is where it all came together. A robust color palette provides an opportunity for color families around different products, and the abstract landscape illustrations provide a beautiful canvas that lets the content pop off the box while making Windward products stand out on the shelf.