Swans Brewery, Pub & Hotel
Revitalizing Downtown Victoria's hippest boutique hotel, pub and brewery

Welcome to Swans
Swans is a unique and diverse business that packs a hotel, pub, brewery, and liquor store into one brick and mortar location. Located at the edge of Canada’s oldest Chinatown, with a stunning view of the inner harbour, they’re a draw for locals and tourists alike.
Swans came to Bone in the middle of repositioning its brand. Swans had been a Victoria fixture for decades, but it needed to revitalize its look to stay current and relevant. It wanted a distinct vibe that would revitalize the local crowd’s interest, and then use the momentum to attract tourists as well.
View Swans Website
A New Vision for the Pub
Swans first step to reaching its goals was to renovate its pub, giving the space an industrial feel, true to the building’s origins as a warehouse. Meanwhile, we began to update their website, menus, and other collateral to fit their new direction.
The website was designed to convey the feeling of being in the physical space. We created a complementary visual design, and highlighted custom photography of the location. We even embedded the pub’s music playlist into the website as an added treat.

The Hotel’s Appeal
While the industrial look of the building informed an edgier aesthetic for the pub, the hotel’s side of the website needed a lighter feel, to ensure visitors their rooms would be comfortable and clean.
We included custom photography with plenty of natural light, creating a bright, warm and airy aesthetic. Gently floating feathers and other hand-drawn illustrations helped to convey the hotel’s personality.

Information Design
We had the unique challenge of representing all of the Swans properties in one menu. After some experimenting, we arrived at a vertically stacked menu that gave easy access to the different Swans businesses: hotel, pub, liquor store.
Complementing the high-level menu was a submenu on the right side of the screen that adapts to show the pages relevant to the current section of the website.
Despite showcasing two very different vibes, we built a cohesive structure throughout the website. By sticking to a consistent layout, integrating similar font choices and a shared bronze colour, we conveyed a recognizable Swans brand experience across the website.


Not Your Dad’s Beer
To reconnect Swans to their local audience, they needed to get relevant, fresh content online. Swans actively releases new small-batch brews all throughout the year, so making that juicy content public was our first priority. Each product is displayed beautifully with a bottle dripping with condensation, and all their vital stats are included, from colour to tasting notes.
Speaking of delicious, we shot custom photography of the pub’s food, and got the entire menu online. Irresistible eats are now at the fingertips anyone looking for a late-night snack downtown.
Did We Mention the Photography?
We photographed the hotel, pub, and brewery interiors, the building exterior, and a variety of their food offerings. In the interior photos, we showed people in each setting to give a sense of life and action. In the hotel, we captured beautiful rooms full of natural light, whereas in the pub, the tungsten light hues give a nighttime candlelight ambience.
The food shots were taken in the pub to convey the authentic pub experience. We used shallow depth of field to draw focus to each crispy, melty, delicious meal while blurring the background.