Madra
Project Focus:
Branding
Year:
2022
Location :
Bogotá DC
Madra is a craft beer brand that fuses brewing excellence with social purpose. Inspired by the Irish word for “dog,” the brand was created with a clear mission: to help feed stray dogs by donating a percentage of its sales. This ethical and emotional foundation became the conceptual core of the project, guiding both design choices and the visual narrative. The result is a distinctive identity—coherent on multiple levels: symbolic, aesthetic, functional, and emotional.
The logo was conceived as a typographic ambigram, with each letter drawn with surgical precision to form a Gothic symmetry readable from both ends. This choice was not merely aesthetic: the ambigram embodies the brand’s duality—pleasure and purpose, flavor and solidarity—while also capturing attention through a visual code rarely seen in the Colombian craft beer scene. The Gothic typography and centered composition deliberately evoke ancient religious manuscripts, a direct reference to the European monastic traditions where many classic beer recipes were born.
The visual system expands this narrative logic to the labels, where each variety is represented by a real dog—illustrated portraits of the client’s own pets—each becoming the ambassador of a distinct experience. The core beers include Sancho (IPA and Kölsch), Belka (Stout and Porter), and Drako (IRA and Scottish Ale), along with a seasonal special edition called Daffy Seisson. Each illustration was crafted in a neo-scientific style, inspired by vintage naturalist prints and reinterpreted through a contemporary lens—balancing emotional warmth with a classic, scholarly tone. The color palette was built from exact Pantones sampled from the actual color of each beer, reinforcing the sensory coherence between design and product.
But Madra doesn’t just want you to drink beer—it wants you to understand it. That’s why the back of each label features a concise and educational account of the beer’s style, along with technical information about the contents, fermentation process, and even a recommendation for the ideal glass to serve it in. This editorial choice transforms each bottle into a vessel of cultural education, fostering a more informed, curious, and conscious beer community. Design thus becomes a mediator between consumer and knowledge—aligned with the spirit of a brand that believes in the power of flavor, but also in the value of understanding.