Stout Collective

The Missing Yearbook — A Metaphor for Finding Ourselves.

We spent the last few months of 2024 hard at work digging through all the great work we were able to accomplish that year. The goal was to create an internal “Stout Yearbook” that was designed, photographed, and printed with the same creativity, attention to detail, and quality we bring to everything we do.

We did just that. After a few rounds of edits we sent it off to a printer here in the Midwest. And then life happened. Our busy workload carried on. The holidays came and went. Fast forward to 2025 while we’re in Milwaukee on our annual retreat and for some reason it came up “whatever happened to those Yearbooks?!”

After a bunch of back and forth, emails, and phone calls, we finally traced them to a UPS store where they had been sitting, addressed to us though never sent, for almost a year.

We finally got ‘em and they’re beautiful. We have a bunch here at the studio, so if you’re ever around, come take a peek!

We. Are. Off! Our studio will be closed until January 5, 2026 to soak up some well-deserved time off after a great 2025. It’s been an incredible year with our clients, collaborators, and a few cookies to end the year. 😉

Thank you all. Thank you to the team. We hope you all have a wonderful holiday season — however you celebrate, and we’ll see ya in the new year! ✌️

Crowns & Hops is an unstoppable force, a brewery from two co-founders that truly do things their own way — and have won over a giant audience of fans in the process.

When we began a brand refresh project earlier this year, Co-Founder Beny posed the question: How do we evolve the brand and still stay true to our authentic selves?

We wanted to keep the heart of Crown’s brand design secure, while expanding on it with a new expanded design language to reflect the next phase of their world domination.

We settled on a new mantra — Craft Beer For The Culture. A phrase that serves as a distillation of their mission, their vision, their values, and the things that drive them. Those that get it, feel it deeply. As Beny & Teo put it — “they f**k with Crowns.”

From there, we gave a fresh face to their core lineup — a more elegant and confident look that’s anchored to their crown brand icon.

Stay tuned, there’s a lot more coming. You’re going to be seeing them everywhere, you heard it here first.

Kölsch Service! 🍻

Every Sunday, is pouring up Kölsch at their Salt Shed Pub location and asked us to design everything to launch it.

We dug into classic German imagery and worked through a number of concepts before landing on this regal goose emblem. After that was established, we built out social graphics, foyer signage, and of course, coasters.

📸 /🎥 :

A little over a year ago, came to us looking for a brand update. Looking ahead to a big anniversary, they wanted to ensure they were entering their next era intentionally, applying learnings from the decade before, and considering who they are today. Since then, we’ve worked with them on everything from strategy and positioning to an updated logo suite, colors, fonts, labels, merch, and more.

We’re excited for them to officially debut the new look this weekend as they celebrate 10 Years! Here’s a quick snapshot of some of the work we’ve done together. We can’t wait to see their growth over the years to come. Kanpai! 🍻

Drip drip! We’re loving these fresh merch designs created for at this year’s

You might notice a fresh wave of Beer Hug ad creative adorning the walls of Chicago lately 👀

We worked in collaboration with our friends at to bring this vibrant OOH campaign to life and we’re super excited to them IRL. Big Beers. Big Flavors.

Video animation: .motion

Phaze Dust is LIVE! This Imperial Hazy IPA launched a few weeks back at their Capital Hill Brewpub. We’re stoked to see this collaboration with the  team out in the wild 🍻

📸:

Another year, another killer anniversary design for our Orlando pals, 🤘

This year’s theme was inspired by a Godzilla vs. Mothra battle scene, but the ask was to “make it Florida” and so here we see Gator vs. Cicada — each with nods to “6” for the sixth anniversary.

Happy anniversary, y’all! And if you’re in Central Florida — go support Sideward this whole weekend.

Happy 312 Day! As part of this year’s made-up-but-totally-real Chicago holiday, we worked with the team at to brand their new collaboration with , “Chicago Fine Dining.”

May your day be filled with plenty of hotdogs and 312… just like our lunch hour 🌭 🍻

ISO: Cool officemates to sublease our West Town studio space!

Stout Collective is looking for creatives to share their office/studio space in the West Town neighborhood. The studio is a 3,500 sq. foot loft space on the top floor of the ICNC building (). It has two in-unit bathrooms, a half kitchen, photo studio, great WiFi, a conference room, call room, storage, and is walking distance to public transit (Damen Green Line stop, #50 Damen bus, #65 Grand bus). We’ve been here for about six years and built everything out ourselves. It’s an inspiring and creative spot to work — plus great views of the city.

Up to five desks available in the studio. Rent negotiable based on number of desks and includes all utilities, office cleaning, snacks, and some free beer.