On Tap
A digital transformation for two of California's most iconic craft beer brands.
ROLE
Creative Director
SCOPE
UX · UI · Web Design
Art Direction · Strategy
TIMELINE
6 Months
Central Coast, CA
OUTCOME
3x Industry Awards
Davey and W3
Firestone Walker had the heritage. They had the craft credibility. Three restaurants, a state-of-the-art brewery, and decades of reputation built one exceptional beer at a time. What they didn't have was a digital presence worthy of any of it.
I joined as Creative Director at a pivotal moment to lead the digital transformation of the company. Not just to redesign a website, but to build the content infrastructure the brand had been missing. New packaging and can design, typography, photography, video, social, episodic lifestyle video series, a custom CMS, and everything in between.
What we established was two distinct brand identities and one flexible framework to give each of them a digital footprint that matched the caliber of beer they were known for.
THE BRIEF
Firestone Walker's digital presence was stuck somewhere around 2010. The site didn't reflect the quality of the product, the depth of the brand's California heritage, or the culture that had grown up around it.
805 Beer, a sub-brand of Firestone Walker, had grown into one of the most successful craft beers on the West Coast all built around the raw culture of skate, surf, motorcycles, and alternative California living.
For both brands, the following already existed. The stories were already happening. They just needed a home.
The challenge was to solve both at once, building a shared digital framework that was flexible enough to hold two vastly different brand identities without flattening either of them.
2
Brands built simultaneously
6
Month engagement, start to launch
3
Industry awards
THE APPROACH
For 805, the raw material was already there. Troy Powell, the mastermind behind the 805 brand creative, had built a roster of authentic partners, surfers, musicians, motorcycle builders, photographers, and adventurers who embodied the Central Coast lifestyle at its most real.
For Firestone Walker, the work was different. We refined the art direction from the ground up, developing a typographic language, a lifestyle photography style, and an editorial voice that could carry the weight of a heritage brand while still feeling alive and current.
As content came in, I worked in parallel on a wireframe design system that could support both brands with shared bones and distinct personalities. We brought in ANML to build the site functionality and a custom CMS designed for easy in-house updating.
Six sections, one clear through-line. The navigation was structured to reflect the brand's priorities rather than default site conventions. Leading with the beer, then the stories around it, then the people and places behind it. 'Our Beers' anchors the experience at the front. 'Stories' and 'About Us' follow, giving depth to the brand without competing with the product. 'Events' and 'Locations' bring the physical world into the digital one. The 'Store' lives at the end as a destination for those already bought in. Every label was chosen to feel direct and alive, not categorical or corporate.
PRODUCT DETAIL
Each beer earned its own page. Rather than a simple spec sheet, every product detail page was designed to tell the full story of what's in the glass, the hops, the malts, the fermentation process, the history behind the recipe.
Tasting notes and flavor profiles give casual drinkers a way in. The brewing process gives the obsessives something to dig into. The result is a page that works equally well as a discovery tool and a reference for someone who already knows exactly what they're looking for.
LIFESTYLE & EDITORIAL
Storytelling is the core of the Firestone Walker experience. Rather than building a product catalog with a blog attached, we built a content-first site where every section earned its place by having something real to say.
The Stories tab features an episodic lifestyle film series alongside ambassador profiles of surfers, climbers, adventurers, and creatives who embody the spirit of the Central Coast. The About Us page brings the brand's California heritage and commitment to sustainability to life through dialogue from the founders and head brewmaster.
The Stories tab features an episodic lifestyle film series
Ambassador Profiles of surfers, climbers, adventurers, and creatives who embody the spirit of the Central Coast.
About Us brings the brand's California heritage and commitment to sustainability to life through dialogue from the founders and head brewmaster.
Lifestyle stories connected the brand to the people and adventures that inspired it.
Editorial-first layouts encouraged deeper engagement through photography and long-form storytelling.
Responsive content scaled seamlessly across devices for a consistent reading experience.
Destination pages showcased Firestone Walker's breweries, restaurants, and visitor experiences.
EXPANDED APPROACH
With the Firestone Walker foundation established, we expanded the same design framework to support one of the brewery's most recognizable brands. Shared components, flexible templates, and a scalable content framework created consistency across the ecosystem, while custom art direction, typography, messaging, and interactions gave 805 a personality that felt unmistakably its own.
805 BUILD
Built for the culture
Using the shared design framework, each section of the site was tailored to support a different part of the 805 experience. Product pages highlighted the beer, lifestyle content reinforced the brand's personality, and original film series like Authenticos and Films gave visitors a reason to explore beyond the product. Every page was designed to feel unique while remaining consistent across desktop and mobile.
The Stories tab features an episodic lifestyle film series
The Beer page was designed to tell the full story of what's in the can. The hops, the malts, the fermentation process, and the history behind the recipe.
Authenticos Profiles athletes, adventurers, musicians and creatives who embody the spirit of the Central Coast.
The Films tab features an episodic lifestyle film series featuring athletes, musicians, events and more.
Original films showcased the people and stories behind the 805 lifestyle.
Product-first pages combined photography, tasting notes, and brewing information.
Editorial storytelling highlighted the creators, athletes, and communities that defined the brand.
Timely content kept visitors connected to new releases and collaborations.
CONNECTED STORE
The store lives off-site, on a dedicated Shopify storefront that handles both Firestone Walker and 805 merchandise under one roof for apparel, barware, accessories, and branded collaborations with partners and special events.
The decision to host it separately allowed for a cleaner commerce experience without compromising the editorial feel of the main site. The handoff between brand destination and store is intentional and by the time someone clicks through, they already know what they're buying into.
THE OUTCOME
The Firestone Walker and 805 digital ecosystem launched in 2020 and was recognized with a Davey Award and two W3 Awards for design and digital experience.
More than the recognition, the project delivered something harder to manufacture, an authentic digital presence for two brands that had never really had one.
Shortly after launch, I was recruited back to Razorfish for the next Samsung flagship device retail software experience project.
The content ecosystem built alongside the sites continued to generate stories long after launch. The CMS gave the team independence. The framework gave both brands room to grow.
Custom CMS built for in-house publishing with no dependency after launch.
One scalable framework deployed across two distinct brand identities simultaneously.
