After water, if there is one thing that comes close to satisfying that desperate thirst, then undoubtedly, it has to be Beer. I mean there is a reason that it is the third most popular beverage in the world. So how about a beer?

Okay.. just kidding! But I am here to talk about OhBeautifulBeer (OBB), which is a wonderful blog started by Harvey Shepard. It showcases endearing designs from the beer world. The blog covers many aspects of design like apparel, the beer bottles, cans, tap handles  right up to the packaging that the brew ships in.

Though Harvey started this as a personal blog, the consistent demand from thirsty beer lovers has made it a very popular blog and it has been featured on many popular sites.

What's more, Harvey even gets to visit different breweries during his travels and see upfront how the brew is concocted and have beer tasting sessions. Lucky him!  We were fortunate enough to talk to Harvey on his take on OBB, check out the interview below:



Harvey, please introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Harvey Shepard. I’m a graphic designer from Western Massachusetts currently living in Texas. Aside from client work and posting pretty beer pictures, I love being outdoors, playing music and obsessing over baseball. My wife and I travel frequently for her job, so I also spend plenty of time plotting brewery and beer festival visits along our path.


What was the inspiration behind starting a blog about graphic designs from the world of beer? 

The site actually started as a personal blog post. I wanted to write something design-related that non-designers could get into. Beer seemed like the perfect subject and I was more than willing to put in the research. This quickly produced a mountain of great brewery logos and packaging that warranted more attention.

Austin Beerworks, Austin, TX (with fellow beer-bloggers 'The Roaming Pint')

Do you have a criteria to decide on which graphics designs to add to your blog?

Quality of the design work is the only criterion. While the posts tend to feature craft breweries, they have ranged from student projects and homebrewers to some of the largest breweries in the world. I have also posted a wide variety of mediums, including packaging, apparel, tap handles, logos, vehicle wraps, signage, etc.









































How do you go about researching the data on a given graphics label? 

Most of the credit goes to the breweries and designers. Whenever I find a beer I am interested in featuring, they are amazingly supportive in getting information and product shots to me.

I used to spend a lot more time scouring the internet for designs, but I’ve been so inundated with submissions lately that I don’t have to look much further than my inbox for content. Readers are very passionate about their favorite designs, which has been extremely helpful.


In your opinion what have been the changes in the graphics used by the beer brands in recent years? Where do you see it headed in the future?

To be very general, it’s getting better. Breweries are putting more emphasis on, and resources into, their visual identity. In any market you will find design trends/themes and beer is no exception. But overall, breweries are recognizing that consumers want quality outside of the bottle as well as inside. There are plenty of examples of great designs from the past, but I think beer packaging is regarded as more of an artform now.

More and more breweries are shifting towards cans, which will only continue to grow moving forward. It makes sense financially and environmentally. As breweries get greener, I expect their branding to mirror that earthiness with more hand-drawn and illustrative graphics.

Also look for breweries to get more creative and experimental with their packaging as they continue to look for ways to get their product to stand out on the shelf. Though I don’t expect everybody to go as far as BrewDog’s “The End of History,” which was packaged inside of squirrels by a taxidermist.


With the growing popularity of your blog, do you plan to monetize it? If yes then how and when do you plan to do it?

Making money was never the intention of the website. The goal has always just been to shine light on the great design going on in the beer market and the designers behind them. I am hesitant to clutter the site with advertisements that take away from that content.

Gypsy Picnic, Austin Beer Week 2011

With Twisted X Brewing co-founder Shane Bordeau

With Saint Arnold Brewing founder Brock Wagner

Your favorite beer?

Whatever is dark, local and on tap.


Apart from a love for the graphic designs from the world of beer what are your other interests? Share with us a book / song / movie that you keep going back to.

Most of the books on my shelf are design related. A couple I keep pulling back off the shelf are “The Art of Looking Sideways” by Alan Fletcher and “Logo Design Love” by David Airey.

William Fitzsimmons is definitely the musician most commonly heard through my speakers. He is an absolutely brilliant musician, songwriter and beard-grower, and I seem to have an affinity for depressing music.


What are your future plans for Oh Beautiful Beer?

There are several areas of expansion on my “big picture” list that I hope to really move forward on in 2012. Recently I sat down with Brock Wagner, founder of Saint Arnold Brewing in Houston, TX. We had a great chat about their Santo beer packaging and how the collaboration with local artist Carlos Hernandez came about. I will be posting highlights from that interview soon and hope to churn out more interviews with breweries and designers this year.

I’m also a sponsor of Charlotte Craft Beer Week 2012. I will definitely be looking to get more involved with beer weeks, festivals and conferences in the future.


With your experience as a blogger in perspective what advice would you like to give to aspiring bloggers?

The best piece of advice I can offer is to take full advantage of social media. Far too many blogs are one-way streets. Their entire social media strategy is to write a post and then tweet a link to it. People want to be heard. People want to be engaged. Show them that you are listening. Follow people back, reply to mentions, retweet your followers, comment on photos on instagram, etc. A little interaction here and there helps to build a wider and more passionate audience. Personally I’m always impressed when a brand replies to something I tweet, and I try to carry that over into Oh Beautiful Beer.


Thank you for taking the time for this interview Harvey, it's a wonderful blog you've got there. We wish you the very best for the future. :)

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