Personal Project • Oct 2022 – Jan 2023
Brewtiful
I decided I wanted to find a new project for myself — something that would challenge me as a designer but also solve a real problem.
After a lot of thinking I landed on 'Brewtiful'. Craft beers often have genuinely great packaging design, but almost no one was writing about that side of it. Most sites focused entirely on the beer itself.
Role: Sole UX designer
Skills: UX/UI, User Research, Prototyping, User testing
Project goal
Create a magazine/blog style website that focuses on craft beers and the packaging they come in. Each beer gets reviewed in a way that's entertaining but also teaches you something.
A new brand is born
Now I had the idea, I needed a name. I wanted something that felt like a brand, not just a project title — and I needed an end goal to work towards.
After a lot of searching (domain availability checks, social handle hunting) I landed on 'Brewtiful'. It plays on words, it's easy to remember, and it covers both sides of the concept.
Understanding the landscape
My first task was to look at what was already out there and figure out where Brewtiful might sit.
I pulled together a handful of sites, identified where they overlapped and where they had something different going on, then mapped my idea against those findings.
Who is this for?
My next task was to figure out who this was actually for. Being a personal project, my access to research was limited, so I created a couple of personas based on what I could find. I focused on the two sides of the idea — the beer lover and the design lover — with the goal of making something both could enjoy.
Considering content
Next up was figuring out what the site would actually need.
I sketched out a rough IA to identify what pages I'd need to design. The site would be fairly simple, built so content could be added without it becoming a chore. I landed on 5–6 main pages and templates:
• Homepage — something that promotes new content and encourages interaction.
• Search / directory — usable for both beers and breweries.
• Beer bio — the most information-dense page.
• Brewery bio — kept simple: basic details and reviewed beers.
• Blog — fairly minimal. The beer is the main attraction.
• Resource pages — about, contact, etc.
At this point I had a solid enough structure to start thinking about design.
Initial sketches
I got the pen out and started sketching. At this stage it's all rough — quick scribbles to explore ideas and work out what information actually needs to be on each page. It's scrappy but fast, and I can discard and revisit ideas without losing much time.
Brand identity
Low fidelity mocks
At this point I took my favourite sketch and turned it into a slightly more polished digital version.
Not a huge leap, but it helped me get a clearer sense of how the final page might look. A few tweaks in and I was getting pretty happy with the direction.
Prototyping
I took a slightly different route than usual — I built some prototypes first, then figured out how to get feedback on them.
I didn't want to rely on friends and colleagues (too much risk of polite non-answers), so I posted on Reddit. Not a conventional approach, and I'll be honest — it's not that much more rigorous. You don't know who's responding or what their background is.
Feedback
Reddit isn't built for design research. It doesn't give you focused insights — it depends on whoever happens to see the post and has something to say.
That said, the response was positive, which was reassuring. I also got a few useful ideas for iterations out of it.
Final mocks
Armed with the reddit feedback I made a few tweaks before settling on a final design.
Project reflection
It's a personal project, so I'm happy with where it landed. I'd like to come back to it — maybe even build it into a real site one day.
This one needed more self-discipline than most projects I've worked on. Finding time around work and life takes actual planning. If I do something similar again, I'll set aside dedicated time each week from the start rather than fitting it in wherever I can.
