MEZCASA makes handcrafted tequila drinkware rooted in Mexican heritage and traditional agave farming culture. The product was exceptional. The brand around it was not yet telling that story.

David Kopacz, the founder, came to me with a clear brief: build a brand identity and packaging system that honored the craft behind the product without feeling like a costume. Mexican heritage brands in the food and beverage space often fall into one of two traps, either overly literal with folklore imagery, or so stripped down they lose all cultural reference. MEZCASA needed to sit between those two failure modes, sophisticated and rooted at the same time.

I led the full brand identity, packaging design, web direction, and 3D product visualization from May through July 2024.

Brand Identity System A visual identity built around warmth, craft, and earned sophistication. The color palette drew from agave fields and terracotta, grounded in the physical world the product comes from. Typography was selected to balance refinement with approachability, communicating premium without alienating the enthusiast market. Logo and graphic elements designed to work across packaging, web, and retail environments.

Product Packaging Design Packaging built to communicate the handcrafted nature of the product at shelf level. Every detail considered against the context of where the product lives: specialty retail, gifting, and direct-to-consumer. Labels and box design developed to feel like an extension of the craft, not a wrapper around it.

3D Product Rendering in Blender Full 3D product mockups rendered in Blender showing the complete drinkware line in context. This gave David and the team a photorealistic view of how the packaging and product would look in the real world before committing to physical production runs. A step most brand projects skip that saves significant time and cost.

Web Design Direction Visual direction for the web presence covering hero treatment, product presentation, and brand storytelling. Built to convert curious visitors into buyers by leading with the cultural story and earning trust before asking for the purchase.

In David's words: "Johanna is a great designer with a very good eye for branding. I'm looking forward to working with her again in the future."

Looking for a brand identity designer, packaging designer, or 3D product visualization specialist for a food and beverage or artisan brand? This is the kind of work I do.