Design Preview · Board of Directors · May 2026

Bar Talk

— where the night begins.

A social-loyalty app for nightlife. Check in at bars, unlock rewards, discover what's hot tonight, see where your people are. This document presents the proposed visual direction and six core screens of the v1 product.

iOS & Android React Native ~20 Weeks to Launch v1 Mockups
✦ · ✦ · ✦
Visual Direction

Electric Midnight

A nocturnal palette that feels at home in a dimly lit bar. Deep, near-black backgrounds with the warmth of oxblood. Electric amber as the primary brand voice — think whiskey under stage lights. Hot magenta punches in for energy and live activity. Editorial display serif paired with a clean grotesque, because Bar Talk should feel like a magazine, not a SaaS dashboard.

— Palette
INK
OXBLOOD
BONE
AMBER
MAGENTA
EMERALD
Six colors
Three foundation neutrals, two energy accents, one success state. Disciplined, not decorative.
— Typography · Display
Bar Talk
Fraunces · variable serif
Editorial weight
Italic + amber for the brand voice. Distinctive without being decorative. Carries gravitas.
— Typography · Body
The Velvet Hour
Cocktails · 0.4 mi away · 47 here right now
Geist · grotesque sans
Modern, neutral
High legibility at small sizes. Lets the content lead. Geist Mono for system labels.
— Energy
84 here right now
Live signals
Pulsing magenta dots for live activity. The app feels the night happening in real time.
The v1 Screens

Six moments.

Each screen is one critical moment in a user's night. Discover what's happening. Find where you're going. Learn about a venue. The check-in itself. See your rewards. Express your identity. Tap any tile to open the full screen mockup.

01 · Discover
The home
feed.
Discover
Personalized greeting, live activity stats, hero featured bar, hot-now horizontal scroll, your specials, and what your people are doing.
Open mockup →
02 · Map
The live
map.
Map
Geographic discovery with custom markers. Hot pins pulse with magenta. Filter chips, search, and a bottom sheet preview on tap.
Open mockup →
03 · Bar Detail
The venue
page.
Bar Detail
Cinematic gradient hero, live "47 here right now" banner, your visit history, friends checked in, available specials, hours and address.
Open mockup →
04 · Check-In
The moment.
Check-In
The most important screen. Animated success burst, points breakdown, tier progress, unlocked specials. The reward worth coming back for.
Open mockup →
05 · Rewards
Your
stash.
Rewards
Gold-tier hero card, tier ladder progression, available rewards to claim, badge collection, and a transparent points ledger.
Open mockup →
06 · Profile
The user
identity.
Profile
Personal home base. Avatar with tier badge overlay, bio, follower stats, and a chronological feed of every check-in moment.
Open mockup →
✦ · ✦ · ✦
Design Principles

What we're not.

Bar Talk is not Yelp. Not Foursquare. Not Untappd. The visual language is built around three commitments that rule out the generic-app aesthetic before a single screen gets designed.

01
Nocturnal by default
A bar app should look like a bar. Dark mode isn't a setting — it's the design. Every screen carries the warmth of low light and the depth of a long night.
02
Editorial, not utilitarian
Display serif typography, italic accents, generous space. The app should feel like flipping through a city magazine — curated, opinionated, alive.
03
Live energy
Pulsing live indicators, subtle motion, gradient meshes that shift like neon through smoke. The app should always feel like the night is happening right now.
Reference

Companion documents.

For the full architecture and decision-tree story, see the supporting board materials.

Architecture & Technology Decisions
The full board document. Weighted scoring matrices for each major technical decision, cost projections, risks, and the path forward — formatted for printing to PDF.
Open document →