Chris ZneroldBrand, creative & product leadership

New Belgium

The Anti-App

Design lead, MadeNew Belgium · 2014

Launched, 2014

New Belgium: beer mode hero

People spend more time on their phones than on the people at the table. New Belgium wanted to be on the side of the table. So Beer Mode is an app that needs no attention.

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New Belgium: beermode detail

Pick a personality and a timeframe. Beer Mode posts on your behalf and vaguely replies to your friends while you drink.

The interface combines wood and brass with a pint-glass gradient, a treatment developed at the height of flat design.

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At Made Movement I was the design lead, directing the product experience and every screen. Of the people who opened the app, 40 percent both posted to Facebook and browsed the beer menu.

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In hand

Choose a persona, such as Concerned or Industrious, then set the time on a brass gauge. A countdown appears over a glass of amber when Beer Mode is active. The beer menu animates each beer’s actual IBU and ABV.

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