TOP ME OFF

“We top off your drinks, so you can top off your parties!”

— Top Me Off

project scope

Need something to spice up your parties? Or should I say Top Off your parties! Introducing Top Me Off, a new company created to enhance your parties with creative and unique cocktails that set the mood! Top Me Off is a service that provides cocktail bundle boxes for all your party needs, with a selection of boxes ranging from holiday parties like; Christmas, Easter, and Valentine’s day, to other gatherings like; date nights, office parties, and dinner parties. There is a drink for everything! There’s no need to buy a bottle of wine last minute! Just go to our website, shop for the party box you need, and we’ll deliver it right to you! Let us save you the stressful last-minute party shopping!

Top Me Off allows patrons (of legal drinking age) to not only create beautiful cocktails for their parties, but also encourage them to try drinks they never heard of! The boxes contain all the ingredients for the drink of their choice, along with a recipe card for instructions, and a bar tool booklet to advertise our bartending tools.

The target audience is all adults, male or female, from the U.S. that are of the legal age to drink (21 or older) with a middle-upper class income. Mixing drinks is a skill, but patrons do not have to be bartenders to purchase these boxes! With our step-by-step recipe cards, we guide you through even the most difficult drinks so you can impress your friends and family, and become a fantastic party host!

DELIVERAbles

1 primary logo design
Website (including homepage, about us, shop, and customer account)
6 drink recipe cards
1 completed date night party box (includes ingredients, recipe card, and bar tool booklet)
1 developed Instagram page (containing 9 Top Me Off posts)
1 bar tool booklet

objectives

To independently research, design, and produce a logo, developed website, party box packaging, recipe cards, tool booklet, and a branded Instagram page for a cocktail party box service called Top Me Off.
To thoroughly research cocktail box businesses and incorporate that research into the components of my deliverables.
To consistently apply and incorporate previous knowledge of design into branding, illustration, packaging, typography, and layout components of my project.
To analyze and self-critique all components of my project throughout the course to improve the quality of my project.
To understand and apply criticism from peers and instructors whenever required.
To create and carry a cohesive and well-developed brand identity for Top Me Off throughout all project deliverables.
To formally present my project deliverables with reasoning, explanation, and purpose.

Tools

Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe InDesign
Adobe XD

our purpose

We know how hard it can be to plan parties, let alone buy all the ingredients or party supplies you’ll need to prepare for it. Our service provides all the ingredients you’ll need to make the perfect cocktails for your parties, so you don’t have to stress at the grocery store. To make decisions even easier, we accompanied different types of cocktails for each occasion. From holiday parties to special events, we got you covered!

process

Finding my brand identity primarily started by figuring out my logo. Going into this I knew I wanted my logo to be typographic, fun, and creative. I started looking at a bunch of different logos until I found the style I wanted my logo to be. I decided to incorporate olives into my typographic logo, where the olives would be in place of the o’s in Top Me Off. The olives would be stabbed by a toothpick, like how they would appear in martinis. After I created my primary logo I made a secondary logo that was reversed out. The reversed-out logo represents black olives, which are also used to garnish cocktails. The secondary logo would be seen in subordinate places.

Once I was settled with my logos, it helped me find the rest of my brand identity. To make my brand feel like a cocktail brand I created a pattern using an offset color style of the 4 drink garnishes that look alike. Those garnishes are; lemons, oranges, limes, and grapefruits! I chose to use these garnishes in my pattern to add more variety to my brand with the colors, but also to keep the pattern similar since these garnishes have the same form. Once my pattern was created I was able to complete my brand identity with many offset style illustrations of cocktails and ingredients! These illustrations would be incorporated into most of my deliverables to keep my brand cohesive, as well as feel fun and party-like!

brand pattern

This pattern was the start of the brand identity for Top Me Off. The pattern consists of the fruit garnishes on cocktails that take up the same form but are different in color (i.e. oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruits). I used the similarities of form and differences in color to design a pattern that gives off the fun energy of a cocktail party!

brand colors

My brand colors come from my brand pattern. I wanted the brand to take on the cohesive idea of garnishes since my logos also include garnishes. Why garnishes? Well, what else tops off a cocktail!

Brand fonts

The display font I chose is Neutra Text which is an art deco font. Art deco was a movement that started in the 1920s during a time called the Roaring 20s. This was a time when cocktails and cocktail parties were huge! This font is fun, friendly, and the most appropriate choice for a cocktail company! The body text I chose is Cabrito. This font ended up pairing quite nicely with my display font. The font is elegant yet fun and has great legibility. Since my brand is for an older target audience, the legibility must be easy for everyone to read!

RESEARCH

Cocktail parties date all the way back to the 1920s, also known as the roaring 20s. Cocktail parties during this time were a great way to bring all your loved ones together and enjoy a drink to forget about the stressors of work-life or celebrate big events! This was also a time during the prohibition, when alcohol was illegal to buy and sell, so people during this time created cocktail parties as a way to enjoy a drink with friends and family. Of course, now cocktail parties look much different, especially since alcohol is legal to purchase and sell.

Nowadays cocktail parties are very expensive, especially if you plan on hiring a bartender. The average cost of hiring a bartender alone already costs up to $100. The bigger the party, the more bartenders you’ll need to serve all the guests. Of course, you can opt-out of hiring a bartender, but then you’ll have to worry about the extra shopping for the cocktails on top of party decorations, food and snacks, and possibly even the cost of where you’re throwing the party. Not to mention the time spent just to find the cocktail recipes you want to create! Top Me Off helps you save money and time by having cocktail boxes ready for any party you plan to throw! Every box comes with all the ingredients you’ll need for the cocktails including the booze! We have collections of different cocktails for holiday parties and special event parties. Why spend money on a bartender when you can make the drinks in your own creative way! To top that off, you won’t need to spend $100 an hour for an extra service!