Brew Guru

In 2019 I partnered closely with our client, a product manager, and a single engineer to redesign and rebuild Brew Guru, the American Homebrewers Association’s mobile app, in React Native. The shared codebase let us lean on native, platform-specific patterns while supporting both iOS and Android at once.

Throughout, I iterated on the design from user research, analytics, and mobile best practices, improving usability and performance as we went. The app was retired in 2023 once its core features moved into the AHA’s mobile-friendly website, and at retirement it held a 4.0 out of 5 average across 5,760 ratings.

Research showed users found the Home screen overwhelming, but they consistently valued two things: local deals, and quick access to the membership card they used to redeem them. Analytics agreed, Deals was already the most-used feature inside Home.

So we replaced Home with a focused Deals experience: a clearer, more purposeful entry point that also set the pattern for how supporting content like Articles would be organized.

From there, each section earned its place against real usage. Articles had low overall engagement but a small, loyal audience that returned often, so we raised its visibility to test whether exposure could grow sustained adoption. Saved Items left the primary navigation and moved into the places it mattered, like Deals and Recipes, using native controls so saving felt familiar. And Recipes gained at-a-glance meta, how many styles and recipes sat under each beer category, so people could decide where to explore before diving in.

The most leverage came from a single component. I redesigned the map location card into one reusable card used across the map, the list view, and the Deals experience, communicating location type through iconography, plus name, distance, and any available member deal, all at a glance.

Location icons were enlarged and simplified for scannability; locations without a member deal use the same shape in a neutral gray, so color alone signals deal availability while the system stays visually consistent.

Underneath the features, I tightened the foundation. The app’s primary orange and green were updated to pass WCAG AA. And the type system, more than twenty styles, was consolidated down to eleven, with names aligned to iOS and Android platform guidelines.

That shared language between design and engineering streamlined the React Native build and cut friction at handoff, leaving a system that was easier to reuse and evolve.

The redesign traded a crowded home screen for a clear, deals-first experience backed by a more consistent system. Brew Guru ran for four more years and retired with a 4.0★ average across 5,760 ratings, its core features valuable enough to carry forward into the AHA’s website.

Let usage pick the home screen. The strongest decision here, leading with Deals, wasn’t a hunch; it was where research and analytics already agreed. The design just got out of the way.

And on a tiny team, systems are a force multiplier. One reusable location card and a consolidated type scale did more for consistency and speed than any single screen ever could.