The Mill Wine Bar
Social Media Coordinator, Photographer & Graphic Designer
Overview
From January to May 2023, I worked as the social media coordinator, photographer, and graphic designer for The Mill, a wine bar and event venue built inside a century-old grain mill in Abilene, Texas. Unlike the other projects in this portfolio, this wasn’t a single deliverable — it was an ongoing role covering the venue’s full public-facing content pipeline: shooting original photography on-site, editing and posting it to social media, and designing printed and digital collateral, including the bar’s 10th-anniversary logo.
Photography & Social Content
Most weeks centered on original photography — product shots of the wine list, lifestyle shots around the venue, and atmosphere photography that sells a space rather than a product. Shooting on a Canon EOS Rebel T6 and editing in Lightroom, the goal was always the same: make a glass of wine or a bottle label look like it belonged in that specific, string-lit, converted-mill setting.
Shots like the Pacific Rim Riesling were reused across settings — the same bottle photographed in casual daylight and again at dusk against the venue’s lit sign — getting more social content out of a single shoot rather than starting over each time.
Notes
- Reused hero props (like the Riesling bottle) across multiple lighting conditions and settings to stretch each shoot further
- Leaned on the venue’s own lit signage and golden-hour light as a natural backdrop rather than staged lighting
- Framed shots deliberately in-camera (rule-of-thirds grid) rather than relying on cropping in post
Print & Digital Design
Beyond photography, the role included designing printed collateral — including a rental flyer promoting The Mill’s event space to prospective clients. It pairs a triptych of interior photography (chandeliers, string lights, the exposed industrial ceiling) with copy on the building’s history as a 1910 grain mill and what’s included in a rental.
Notes
- Three-photo triptych does the selling; copy stays short and functional underneath
- Deep burgundy background ties the flyer to the venue’s wine-bar identity, not a generic event-space look
- Leads with the building’s history to explain the venue’s character before listing what’s included
10-Year Anniversary Logo
The Mill also had me design a logo to mark its 10th anniversary. The brief was simple — work the number “10” into the mark — so the “1” became a line-art wine bottle (a nod to the wine bar it is today) and the “0” became a circular icon combining open land and grain silos (a nod to the building’s original life as a mill), transitioning into a solid block spelling “THE MILL.” “ANNIVERSARY” runs underneath in a thick, bold, all-caps weight, with a smaller “Abilene, TX” beneath.
Notes
- The wine bottle in the “1” represents the wine bar today; the land and silos in the “0” represent what it was built as
- Bold, all-caps “ANNIVERSARY” matches the weight of “The Mill” wordmark; a thinner “Abilene, TX” keeps the locational tag from competing
Reflection
This role was less about one project and more about being the person who showed up whenever the venue needed content — a new wine feature, an event to promote, a milestone to mark. It’s also the widest range of skills in this whole portfolio in one place: photography, social content, print design, and logo design, all for a single, real, ongoing brand rather than a fictional one or a one-off deliverable.