26 Mar It’s Been a Smooth Transition into Beer Labels for Rough Draft Co.
by Mark E. Lasbury for Indiana On Tap
Making beer is just one part of making a living in beer. A brewery has to package that beer and sell that beer in order to be successful. Most often, the different parts of a brewery’s work are handled by different groups of people. Brewers brew, cellarmen package and transport, beer slingers pour, and marketing/design people make sure that it can be found on store shelves by advertising and making the packages attractive. It’s a team effort.
However, there are those times when the lines between roles get blurred. I began researching this piece as another in our series on people/companies working on the edges of craft beer, but I quickly found out that Rough Draft Co. in Fort Wayne, and its owners Kaylie and Kyle Snodgrass, is hip deep in this industry. Sure, they design labels for several breweries/cideries (as well as doing design work for other companies), but they also help make beer, sell beer, and help out otherwise at several breweries.
image credit: Rough Draft Co.
After a stint at a marketing agency, Kaylie and Kyle started Rough Draft Co. in October of 2019. Kaylie had always wanted to be her own boss and run a business, and it has taken off from there. Both Kaylie and Kyle were beer fans before the company was born. Kaylie told me, “Kyle and I met each other in June of 2015 on a summer school trip in Italy. There, we started drinking beer, we both didn’t really care for it before that because we hadn’t discovered good beer! After that we really started to get involved in craft beer, visiting Deer Park and trying new things at local breweries. Kyle and I enjoy Sours and IPAs the most but we are really getting into Stouts and porters as well. We appreciate all styles.”
Kaylie added, “I have always wanted to start my own business in some respect to work for myself. I worked for a marketing agency in town for about a year. When that didn’t pan out I started my own business in October of 2019. We named it Rough Draft Co. as a nod to drafts of art but also keeping in mind ‘draft beer.’ We hope to someday have a taproom called Rough Draft where I would also have my office for meetings.”
It turns out they are well on their way to that goal. Kyle is brewing with Tom Carpenter at 2Toms Brewing in Fort Wayne, and Kaylie and Kyle are generating a lot of buzz in the industry with her beer labels and with what she does at the 2Toms taproom. How do they divide up all these duties? Kaylie told me, “My husband and I are the only ones that run Rough Draft. I take care of the business aspect/ client relationships and communication. My role is mostly tech/designing/photography/social media. My husband, Kyle, does more hands-on art. He graduated with a Bachelors in Fine Art with a concentration in Sculpture, I graduated with two Bachelors, one in Photo and Imaging and one in Graphic design. Kyle will do murals or detailed illustrations for my labels. He has done murals at Chapman’s locations, Sweets on Main, 2Toms, and he is starting a new one in 2Toms’ new space in addition to brewing with Tom! I do all the labels and computer-based design and photo!”
Kiss the Cook for Bad Dad Brewing. image credit: Rough Draft Co.
When Rough Draft Co. opened, she started to reach out to new spaces either by email or direct mail containing a note, her card, and some labels that she had done. Her second client was Two-EE’s Winery since she worked in their tasting room (yup, she pours too). 2Toms came after that, and then it blossomed fully. She says, “Many breweries like the faster turn-around on art and the personable touch on being able to contact me for what they need whenever they need it. After a while it was really word of mouth and social media that got me more clients. I understand the language and the requirements for TTB and other things that are unique to the beverage world.”
Their client list is expansive as of early 2021; 2Toms, Kekionga Craft, Whyte Horse Winery, Great Lakes Gear, Bad Dad Brewing, Auburn Brewing, Three Rivers Distilling, Junk Ditch Brewing, and occasionally Two-EEs and Black Dog Marketing. Kaylie says, “I have had other clients I work with here and there, like Huntington County Visitors Bureau, Faes Cabinet, Room To Escape, Country Heritage Winery, Narwhal and the Manatee and Yeasty Boy Bread Company.” But she also says, “I don’t turn down people at this point.” About 80% of her business right now is beer labels, But she is branching out to doing more photo shoots and she does want to do more full campaign jobs – merchandise, clothing, stickers, etc. although she has done a few.
image credit: Rough Draft Co.
With all these craft beverage clients, Kaylie now knows the regulations for labels as well as the people that hire her do. When asked about the TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau) rules, Kaylie said, “Usually it is unspoken with my regulars since I know the requirements. I am always learning what language the TTB likes to see and doesn’t like to see. I know the basic things that will get flagged and always try and design around that. Usually the problems come in language of beer descriptions so that is where we work with the clients if they are planning to distribute their beer. I am also learning recycling laws and regulations for other states as well as 2Toms expands their footprint of distribution. Wine and beer are also a little different so it is important to know what needs to be on the labels.”
So how does she Rough Draft approach a beer label? “I would say 90% of the time the design comes from the beverage name. Craft beer allows so much creativity on naming beer and creating a great label that will catch the eye. ‘Judging a book by its cover’ really is true in this case! As far as a breweries’ styles, I try to stay consistent in design, for instance, Auburn has a great vintage/automobile type style. Clients want their labels to look like they are true to their brewery so eventually people could look at it and know where it is from without reading.”
She added, “Most clients are really great about having a vision. It is important to me to learn them and their style so I can put their words into art. After working with them for some time, I am usually able to give life what they are wanting. It is such a great feeling to hear excitement from a client after just writing an email of what they want and seeing their vision come to life or even better, something they weren’t expecting. It is satisfying to be able to read and see visuals and make something really neat and unique to that brand.”
Krampus Blended Whiskey for Three Rovers Distilling. image credit: Rough Draft Co.
Turn-around time for Rough Draft is about a week, so I wondered if this short time frame hinders her creativity. Kaylie told me, “It doesn’t limit my ability. I usually can work really fast if I need to. Since I work from home, I’m not really limited on being able to spend extra hours outside the normal 9-5 grind. If something needs rushed, I get it done. I understand there needs to be time accounted for to approve and print so I really try to hit deadlines because breweries thrive on release hype.”
Since her work is visible to so many people, I asked her what she thinks when she sees her own work on shelves or even on billboards. “I am hugely critical of my own work, but who isn’t? I definitely see things that I would have done differently but sometimes you just have to say ‘I meant to do that.’ It is so cool to see my labels out and about, especially knowing that Tom specifically has beer in Europe and some other states. When I did billboards for Two-EEs is was especially neat to see those on I69 on US24.”
As to her favorite label, she points to some early work for 2Toms. “It may not be my ‘best’ but ‘Major‘ from 2Toms is special to me for a few reasons. One, it’s big a part of the “Other Tom” series and was a tribute to Major Tom – I’m a HUGE Bowie fan. The other reason is that it actually got 3rd place in the nation for best labels through Thirsty Bastards which was super humbling and neat to see happening in my business early on.”
It’s easy for us to talk to Kaylie about her work, but the proof is in the client, so to speak. So, how do her clients feel about her work and work ethic? Head Brewer Todd Stone from Junk Ditch said, “Kaylie is great! She really knows how to translate whatever idea I might have into a great label and she’s really patient about all the times I’ve changed my mind about something. Her turn-around times are so fast too, which has really helped our canning take off like it has.” Tyler Butcher of Kekionga Craft added, “Kaylie has been great to work with. She takes our ideas and easily transitions them into the label designs. I know she works with several local breweries and wineries, but she does a great job of keeping every brand unique.”
“Major” from the Other Tom Series. image credit: Rough Draft Co.
Finally, Tom Carpenter of 2Toms Brewing told me, “Seeing Rough Draft go from idea to launching and experience such growth has been such a joy. I have a special connection with Kaylie when working on labels. She is able to take a specific idea or weird concept from my head and develop an artful expression of our beer. It is amazing to have an artistic impression match the creativity we try to express in our beers.”
He added, “Now that Kaylie is on staff at 2Toms, we collaborate on labels, brand, social media and events. Plus she has driven our beer through photography. Kyle has been my assistant brewer since January 2019 and it was he who originally pitched me on the idea of allowing Kaylie to design a label. It started with ‘T-Shirt Weather Pale Ale’ and now we are 60 plus labels developed in less that 2 years. Kyle has hand drawn many labels as well, including Cooper Barleywine and the rooster on Ryes & Shine.”
It was a wild year+ after starting Rough Draft, but things are moving forward fast for the company and the future looks bright. Kaylie said, “2021 has already been so big for me, gaining some work with Bad Dad and being featured more and more. In five years Kyle and I would love to have our taproom (and thereby joining all their different jobs into one). There may be a point where we need to bring someone on to handle social media or video but we don’t need that quite yet!” Well, I have a rough idea that Rough Draft Co.’s next moves might be less than five years away.
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