Reimagining the future of craft beverages.
Founded by former Tesla engineer, Botrista brought sophisticated engineering to an unexpected category: beverages. Its automated platform could create complex, made-to-order drinks quickly and consistently while using real fruit purées, teas, coffees, and other ingredients beyond the heavy syrups traditionally associated with automated beverages.
The Challenge
Botrista had an innovative product and compelling technology, but the bigger opportunity was defining how the brand should show up in the world.
The story needed to resonate with restaurant operators focused on speed, consistency, labor, and profitability—while creating something consumers would find fresh, flavorful, and desirable.
How do you make sophisticated automation feel less robotic and more crafted?
The Exploration
I developed two distinct creative territories, each exploring a different expression of the same core idea: Botrista brings together engineering precision and beverage creativity.
One direction leaned into the intelligence and innovation behind the platform. The other brought flavor, ingredients, personality, and the possibilities of the finished drink forward.
Together, the concepts explored how Botrista could move beyond the story of a remarkable machine and become a brand centered around what that machine makes possible.
The Art Direction
Photography played a critical role in changing that perception.
I helped define an art direction that elevated the drinks from automated beverages to crafted, craveable experiences—borrowing visual cues from premium cocktail and hospitality photography.
Fresh ingredients, intentional garnishes, glassware, texture, color, and considered lighting put the finished drink at the center of the experience. The technology could remain remarkably sophisticated behind the scenes while the customer saw something much simpler:
