By Jeanine Caprino Zimmer
You know Ellicottville Brewing Company and you know how well they brand. What you may not know is the creative wiz behind the sometimes whimsical and always strategic labels. You may have seen her at your last trip to any of the EBC locations. She is always on the job seemingly not working at all because she loves what she does and being in and around it. I have worked with Sara as part of the team for many years now and can attest she has found her perfect niche in a creative business at an ever-expanding company. Sara took some time to give us a glimpse of the road that led her to being the Creative Lead, Graphic Artist, and Marketing Lead at EBC. I share this with you:
(Sara’s full portfolio can be viewed: https://saracorsistaley.myportfolio.com/)
The Villager (V): When did you realize art, specifically design and marketing, was your direction?
Sara Corsi Staley (SCS): I have always been a creative. One of those innate drives, daydreaming of different stories to tell with art. Growing up I practiced in acrylic, oil, charcoal, you name it. I was that kid in class who would fill up the edges of my homework and notebooks. Was given a special schedule in High School to have extra art studies / independent study. Pursued one year of fine arts major at college. Then became interested in commercial art, a more dependable career, and design as a discipline.
V: What was your most influential assignment in college?
SCS: Planning our senior gallery show, choosing and preparing which of my pieces to hang and putting in the effort to absorb real, honest constructive criticism. We held it at the Tri-Main Building in Buffalo. At the time it was old industrial space turned into a gallery space on an upper floor. Haven’t been in that building since, wonder what it looks like inside.
V: How did you pick the company you interned with? What experiences did your internship offer you?
SCS: The college I attended allowed a special exemption to apply my real-world freelance projects as internship credits, as I pursued taking freelance jobs as soon as I could to maximize experience and study. After graduation, I applied for an internship at Hero Design Studio (Buffalo, NY). They have long since relocated to California, but I spent about 9 months there. A gig poster screen print small studio that won all the local gig contracts with a retail space in front. Incredibly cool place (I mean, big indie bang gig posters!) and gained invaluable experience from there.
V: What was your first professional job?
SCS: My first professional jobs were mostly low- to no- pay nonprofits and small biz startups. You work your way up into higher level clients with bigger budgets as you gain experience, confidence, and skill. You find your strengths and improve your weaknesses. At one point, the majority of my freelance projects were custom websites but at a certain point I could see the market there shifting to drag-and-drop building and my true love was always in design, illustration and print. Today I still dedicate a certain number of hours a month on tutorials learning new skills, new tech, new apps. Currently, I’m very interested in finding how to utilize AI art into my work flow and mastering prompts, engines, each new AI platform involves different techniques and skill sets.
V: What was the most fun you’ve ever had on a job?
SCS: The Van Gogh beer for the Beyond Van Gogh immersive experience. What fine artist wouldn’t love the opportunity to design packaging to celebrate one of their favorite artists!
Another fun one was working with Brian Moorman on an EBC + PUNT Foundation project. I got a random call on my landline from Florida and it was Brian and I didn’t know he was calling, caught me off guard, lol. Had so much fun working with him, doing a group photoshoot on the streets in Buffalo, attending the charity Gala with a bunch of Bills, seeing my work up on the auction screens. That project was a ton of fun.
Another was the recent wall murals for the new Little Valley pub. Being entirely a fine art project, the opportunity to create a massive, cohesive artwork at that scale was very exciting and fun. That piece I painted by hand in Procreate, and the freedom, trust and support company owner Peter Kreinheder showed was just really, incredibly fun and I was hyper focused.
(V): What was your first project with Wax Lily? How many clients and staff do you currently have?
(SCS): I freelanced under that biz name from 2010-2020. So, 10 years. In 2020, I have since joined EBC as their Creative Lead, Graphic Artist, and Marketing Lead. During my freelance years, I worked solo with the exception of taking some interns from SUNY Fredonia’s Design & New Media seniors on to help mentor and help me out.
(V): How many packages and labels have you created for them? Which are some of your favorites?
(SCS): I can’t count how many packages, labels, cartons, POS, out of doors, everything under the sun I’ve created for EBC and other clients. Each new retail brew has a laundry list of supporting packages and graphic items included. Some of my favorite EBC labels have been Strawberry Crunch Bar Cream Ale, which is a nostalgic + fun package. I loved working with the Falling Piano guys from Mexico City on a series of labels. Probably my favorite to-date is Tailgate Time IPA, always wanted to do a *wimmelbuilder/‘where’s waldo’ themed design and this ended up being the perfect opportunity, and people seem to really have been excited about that one!
(V): Advice for new designers or students entering the work force?
(SCS): Learn how to prepare your files properly for the corresponding output. You must learn how to prepare color profiles, layers, trapping, and be able to predict how things will look on press vs. litho vs. digital, on various substrates and mediums. Get familiar with the tech and tour some print shops. One thing I pride myself on is thorough print file preparation. If you’re entering packaging design, this is a solid MUST.
* A Wimmelbilderbuch (German, literally “teeming picture book”), wimmelbook, or hidden picture book is a type of large-format, wordless picture book. It is characterized by full-spread drawings (sometimes across gatefold pages) depicting scenes richly detailed with humans, animals, and objects. Typically made for children, the drawings are filled with characters and items that may be discovered.