CRZY strategy and design studio

We’re constantly pushing the boundaries of generative AI with our clients, creating innovative and impactful work. Exciting projects are on the horizon, but here’s a small glimpse of what’s possible. Stay tuned. #AI #Innovation

We’re thrilled to unveil the bold, sophisticated new branding and visual language we crafted for Rabbit Hole Whiskey! ?? This project was all about celebrating Rabbit Hole’s fearless creativity, deep roots in Louisville’s whiskey tradition, and their drive to push boundaries. From the intricate details of their story to the boldness of their spirits, we poured passion into every element of the design to match their unapologetically daring spirit. This is more than branding—it’s an invitation to explore the unexpected and embrace the extraordinary. Stay tuned for more behind-the-scenes details and how we brought this vision to life! Ready to Get CRZY with your brand? Let’s chat. #GetCRZY #CRZYDesign #RabbitHoleWhiskey #BrandingUnveiled #DesignMatters #WhiskeyBranding

I continue to see that people want to come together in small, personal groups where they can have deep conversations and find the support they need as we all struggle to find our way in this economy and society. I want to continue to find new ways of having those conversations in Pittsburgh, so thank you to Michael Carroll for these interviews with Fedd the God and Farooq Al-Said about their time with Joyous Rebellion this past weekend.

This past weekend, we hosted the first annual CRZY strategy and design studio creative summit to support creative leaders in Pittsburgh. One of my missions since I moved back was to help support and elevate creatives in our city. A massive thank you to Jahan Mantin and Boyuan Gao (she/her/hers) of Joyous Rebellion for facilitating such a great two days. (with Paul Stonick, Savannah Graham, Whitney Gates, Michael Carroll, Fedd the God, and Farooq Al-Said.

We were talking with a client last week and in passing they said “Wouldn’t it be cool if there themed versions of Burning Man”. So we thought why don’t we take the new versions of Runway and Midjourney through its paces to create a Star Wars themed Burning Man. It’s crazy how far Runway has come with their Gen 3 Alpha. #midjourney #starwars #burningman #runwayai #ai #aidesign

More new work from and world-building from CRZY strategy and design studio for Mary Dowling for National Tequilla Day, celebrating Mary's decision to move her distillery to Mexico and create bourbon using tequila barrels.

Our new work for Mary Dowling Whiskey debuted at Tales of the Cocktail yesterday to a massive response partially thanks to extending our work in AI to a unique photo booth that put people into the new world of Mary Dowling.

A first look at the first of four parties CRZY strategy and design studio designed for Rabbit Hole Distillery at Tales of the cocktail this week. The first was for Rabbit Hole where we launched their new “I am Alice” campaign where we wanted to lean into the origin of the brand name which came from Alice in Wonderland but we wanted to celebrate the unique creativity of the brand and not the book. We’ve made have Alice the patron saint of the brand tying Alice, the brand and consumer together. The party then explores the creative, bold, unique, and legacy sides of the brand and the attendees. We had a line around the block and a lot of people having a lot of fun! #talesofthecocktail #talesofthecocktail2024 #branding #campaign

Here's a look at some of the new work we created for Mary Dowling, which is launching next week. It was created heavily with Midjourney and Magnific.ai. We wanted to create a world unlike anything else in the spirits space right now.

One of the biggest challenges we had with Blackened Whiskey was that 50% of our clients are sober, which was something we took really seriously, and we always worked to find new ways of incorporating them into the brand. I always loved James Hetfield’s handwriting which was very structural and reminded me of how architects or other precise artists write. It could be a great way to bring him more into the brand, but I was very aware that we would be putting his handwriting into ads and on bottles of whiskey, and message that could send. We debated it a lot, but we decided the best thing to do was propose the idea and see what would happen. On a video shoot in NYC a few weeks later, we talked about our idea to make this font with James and if he was comfortable with the idea. His simple response was, “Hell yes. What do you need me to do?”. These are moments when you clearly see why this band has been so successful for 40+ years - there were no committees, workshops, or roundtables - just a yes and trust in what we wanted to do. James sat down, filled out the typesheet we created, and then we went to work creating the font. We scanned the font, brought it into Illustrator, created the first rough font, and then spent about a week trying to break it and then refine it by using it in every possible way we could think of.