Caldera

Caldera blends science and innovation to make premium, sustainable cannabis products. At Flow Kana, I led Caldera’s visual brand development and strategy, presenting designs to leadership and working closely with marketing and packaging. Goals: build loyalty with quality products and compelling visuals, boost awareness with authentic campaigns, and differentiate in a crowded market. Using Headset.io data, we determined Caldera’s audience is men 25–35 and we crafted a voice and mood board to match. We chose a volcanic theme to connect with nature and science, adding playful elements to honor recreational use without sacrificing quality. The result: a bold, eye-catching identity system that garnered 1M impressions across media, gained 5,000 followers on Instagram in the first month, and launched in 300+ dispensaries in California.

Role

Creative Direction

Brand Strategy

Visual Identity Design

Packaging Design

Print & Digital Design

Credits

Annabel Worrall, Director of Marketing

Meredith Hudson, Director of Packaging

Wyatt Packer, Social Media Manager/Copywriter

Cannabis product packaging and concentrates from Caldera, with black and red volcanic designs, set against a black and white mountainous landscape background.
Text saying "Leave Your LICE" in black, bubbly, distorted font on an orange background with circular gradient design.
Multiple smartphones displaying a music playlist or social media profile with colorful album covers and graphics.
Three billboard advertisements promoting artfully crafted fire quality cannabis products, with images of people and colorful backgrounds.
Multiple black and orange vape batteries with a cracked lava pattern and the words "PURE DUST" in bold on each.

Artist Partnership Campaign

“Flow Cannabis Company, creators of Flow Kana sun-grown cannabis, launched their new live resin product, Caldera, with a visually captivating campaign. We collaborated with nine unique artists to bring their perspectives to the Caldera brand. Each artist was asked to create a piece that spoke to their experience with cannabis and how they felt after using the product. The campaign achieved over 63K impressions and a 14.5% engagement rate, with zero account shutdowns, proving that compliance doesn't hinder creativity. Our key takeaway: Branding is an iterative process that evolves with a product, serving as a common language between consumers and the company's values. Collaborative development leads to authentic, mutually beneficial results.” —Highlyte

Collage featuring a black sweatshirt with abstract design, a woman in patterned pants hanging from a basketball hoop, and a woman with red hair in front of a lemon slice background.
A young man with tattoos, wearing a yellow beanie, black glasses, a black sweatshirt with a graphic of a snake and a heart with rays behind it, and black pants. He has multiple necklaces and tattoos on his hands and neck. The photo features two side-by-side images of the same person, one looking to the side and the other looking directly at the camera, against white walls with pipes.
A digital artwork of orange and red orchids with swirling light effects on a black background.

Design is a Process

My process for a full brand identity and strategy project:

  • Research & discovery: values, mood boards, audience, competitors — how the brand is differentiated in the market.

  • Visual exploration: icons, typography, colors, patterns — includes sketches, motifs, etc.

  • Narrow ideas: refine 2–3 strong concepts with mockups.

  • Finalize: deliverables, brand guidelines, file handoff.

  • Review: user testing and lessons learned for future improvements and refine if necessary

Above are snippets from the process of creating the visual identity for Caldera

The slides below show part process, part brand guidelines

A promotional image for Caldera Brand showing two women in a desert landscape, one with curly hair holding a vape pen, the other with straight dark hair with red highlights, both wearing casual summer clothing, with mountains and rocks in the background.
Flowchart of the design process with four stages: Define, Explore, Refine, Finalize, each with a list of tasks, on a black background with white text and circles, and the Caldera logo in the top right corner.
A slide titled 'Audience Persona' featuring a photo of a smiling young man with curly hair in a circular orange border on the left. To the right, there is a paragraph describing Sam, a 26-year-old graphic designer from Los Angeles, who smokes, prefers top shelf material, and lives with friends in Silverlake.
A presentation slide titled "BRAND VOICE" featuring a three-column chart with categories: Presentation, Tone, and Personality. Rows include attributes such as Innovative, Youthful, Bold; Adventurous, Limitless, Spirited; Luxurious, Endeavoring, Friendly; Cool, Playful, Ambitious; Aspirational, Vibrant, Expansive. The slide has a black background with white text and a copyright notice at the bottom.
Presentation slide titled 'Themes / Motifs' with three columns labeled 'Eye,' 'Fire,' and 'Hand.' Each column lists several bullet points explaining their symbolic meanings, such as perception, wisdom, and transcendence for 'Eye'; creation, life, death, and eruption for 'Fire'; and agency, action, mythology, and alchemy for 'Hand.' The slide has a black background with white text and a Caldera logo in the top right corner.
A digital mood board consisting of various abstract and photographic images, artwork, and text with a black background. The mood board features themes of nature, fire, and technology in orange, black, white, and blue colors, with titles like "ORIGINS," "DUNE," "FEAR," and "MAGNA TTO."
Brand guidelines document cover with a red background, white text, and a photo of a woman standing on a rocky hilltop.
Slide with a black background, titled 'PRIMARY LOGO' on the top left, and the word 'CALDERA' with a flame icon above it in the center. The flame icon is orange with a gradient to red at the bottom. There is a paragraph of text on the left explaining the logo's design and symbolism, and a copyright notice at the bottom left.
A digital color palette inspired by the lava theme of Caldera, titled 'midnight explosion,' featuring three primary colors in horizontal stripes: yellow (#F7D904), orange (#EE7022), and red (#EB3525). Below these are three additional colors in smaller blocks: blue (#002BFF), dark blue (#070050), and black (#000000). Each color swatch is labeled with its hex code and CMYK values. The left side includes descriptive text about the color palette's inspiration and vibrancy, with the Caldera logo in the top right corner and a copyright notice at the bottom left.
A black and white slide discussing typography, including descriptions of logo typeface Lydia, its all-caps condensed font, and the headline font, which is wide and used for main titles. The slide features the Caldera logo in the top right corner, the title 'TYPOGRAPHY' in large bold letters at the top, and a brief copyright statement at the bottom.
Black background with white text and graphics. Title reads 'Brand Illustrations' with illustrations of a flaming skull, a hand with eyes, and a flaming eye. The text explains these illustrations are inspired by grunge skate culture, suitable for merchandise and digital/print materials, evoking fun and playfulness. Copyright 2022.
Brand pattern with black background and orange lava-like design, labeled 'Brand Pattern' with text explaining its use and appearance, and a Caldera logo at the top right.

Post-Launch Metrics