COPPER SON BREWING CO.
Copper Son Brewing Co., a new brewery without a physical location, needed a responsive website to establish brand legitimacy and encourage their customers to shop online.
SUMMARY
ROLE
UX Research & Design
August-September 2023
TIMELINE
Figma, FigJam, Google Meets, Notion, Squarespace
TOOLS
Business Goals
Open a brick-and-mortar brewery in Harlem (no deadline)
Drive website visits to the online shop. The current plan is for selling beer and in future selling merchandise.
Increase brand awareness through social media campaigns (paid advertising & organic content)
RESEARCH METHODS
User Interviews & Persona
Prototype Testing
Task & User Flows
Competitive Analysis
DISCOVERY & DEFINE
Users treat breweries as connectors. Through breweries, they are able to connect with friends and the greater community. Users will visit Tier 2 breweries with poorer beer if the ambiance and brewery mission is better. Users engage with breweries through social media and feel satisfied with the level of information provided.
Defining the priorities
To test the site’s usability, I chose tasks specifically requested by the clients and mentioned by the users in the interviews. I conducted the testing in mid fis to allow the clients more time to collect their assets for the final design.
TESTING
TASK 1
Shop for beer
TASK 2
Register for an event
Participant 4
TASK 3
Register for newsletter
“This is a cool feature - I like having the choice to select how I’d like to experience their beer, whether on draft at a brew pub or getting it delivered to me.”
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Users like the site and wished the brand had a physical location for them to visit, which means I did my job of conveying the brand values and establishing a positive relationship with the brewery and its customers.
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The users only got confused on a couple of minor areas which were easy to update:
—Shorten the hero image to encourage them to scroll down
—Make the newsletter sign up a pop up when they land on the site and also apart of the rotating header, in addition to the footer
DESIGN
The client shared their assets with me but allowed me to make tweaks as I saw necessary. The changes I made were minor but with big impact: making the logo more vertical and updating the color palette. I wanted to include the brand’s values and its many influences mirroring the cross-disciplinary nature of the Harlem Renaissance.
Design Evolution
Community Page
Version 1
Version 2
Version 1
My client requested a community page for him to highlight other BIPOC owned businesses who are committed to DEI in the brewing industry.
I initially repurposed shopping cards to promote the peer organizations but they were not popping nor cohesive with the branding.
Version 2
I decided to reference the modular checkerboard used on the homepage to highlight flagship products. and and made their images black and white to simplify the visuals.
THE FINAL PRODUCT
Users are boldly introduced to flagship beers on the homepage. They can shop online and tailor the shopping experience to their preferences of delivery such as on draft (experience the beer live and in person), home delivery, or pick up at a local liquor store. This feature was highlighted by users in user testing as an exciting & clever feature .
Shop for beer
Register for an event
The brewery can establish relationships with their users by sharing events and allowing users to register for them, giving them more points of contact.
Sign up for the newsletter
Users are encouraged to sign up for the newsletter through pop ups and the footer where they can stay up to date with the latest happenings and get access to the brewery’s monthly lifestyle newsletter, an important feature to the client.
IMPACT
My client loved the final product. My goal was to create a site that grows with the company so I created many pages that will be utilized once the company has the bandwidth, such as the events page. They will instead promote events on social media which is easier to manage and where their users prefer their news shared.
This product was my first experience working with local small businesses and provided useful insights for future work with small business clients. Small businesses have a lot on their plate and I learned how to work with limited information or assets, such as conducting usability testing in mid fis instead of high fis, to give the clients more time to assemble their branding kits.
This product was a great way for me to not only flex my UX muscles, but also implement skills from my previous lives in the museum and gallery world. To bridge gaps from the lack of provided assets, I wrote filler copy which the client liked so much they kept. I also gave suggestions for social media strategies that would work hand in hand with the site.
It was a great experience to work with a client whose business I passionately believe in and validating to hear their appreciation of my work. I hope that this site can be the springboard they need to take their business to the next level.