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Bushcraft Ben

A site built like Ben's own patch, in soot, bone and brass, for the gear he carries and the brands he tests it for.

Built for Ben Verhoef (@bushcrafter_ben), a bushcrafter who tests outdoor gear in the woods. Not yet on its own domain.

Sector
Outdoor creator · Gear tester
Year
2026
Services
Web design, Development, Content, Accessibility
Stack
Next.js, React, Tailwind CSS, TypeScript, Vercel

(01)The idea

Ben's work lives on Instagram, where he goes by "Ben there", and on a Linktree: fire-lighting, campfire cooking, forest days and the gear that went along. Brands who want their gear tested, and followers who want to buy what he uses, had no single place to land. The site had to sell him to a brand at a glance, answer "what's that stove?" in a click, and look like nobody else, not even GRØNN Studio's own green and orange.

Ben Verhoef is a long-time bushcrafter and wilderness survival enthusiast who tests outdoor gear in the woods and shares what holds up on Instagram as @bushcrafter_ben, where he goes by Ben there. Brands send him gear; followers ask where to buy it. Until now the answer was a Linktree.

The site gives each of those questions a page: the kit he carries, the field tests, and how a brand works with him. Every fact on it, from the follower count to the captions it quotes, comes from his own Instagram and Linktree as of 30 September 2026.

Screens

Bushcraft Ben home page: the headline Ben there. in heavy bone slab capitals with the second line in outline, on soot black, next to his round patch with the motto running round it, and a brass Work with Ben button.
Ben there.: his Instagram name as the headline, and his patch with the motto turning round it.
What's in the pack: three stitched cards (Fire, Cook and drink, Wear, carry and repair), each item a checkbox row with its name and what it is.
The kit as a packing list, in cards with a dashed stitch.
Brands I work with: nine stitched cards, from Überleben and Eberlestock, with a brass Code BEN10 tag, to Polaris Benelux and NordicWolf.
Partners, each with what he uses from them. The discount code is set in brass.
More from the woods: three cards quoting his Instagram posts about foraging sweet chestnuts, meeting Ray Mears and morning coffee in the woods.
His own captions, quoted and dated, each linking to the post.
Work with Ben: where his content is shared, and How it works in three numbered steps, from the first email to the gear going into the woods.
Work with Ben: three steps for brands, and a fixed quote after the first conversation.
The kit page in the dark theme: bone text on charred wood, each item with the brand under its name.
The same kit in the dark theme, which follows the visitor's device.
The home page on a phone: Ben there. stacked, his introduction, Work with Ben and See the kit buttons, and the patch below.
On a phone the patch moves under the headline.
A field test on a phone: a reel from 22 September 2026 marked Paid partnership, about a survival fishing rod made with a Leatherman Wave+ Alpha.
Field tests mark paid partnerships the way Instagram does.

(02)Design choices

Colour

  • Night#12110EThe patch sections: header, heroes, call to action, footer
  • Bone#EFE9DCThe page ground, and lettering on night
  • Paper#E4DCCABands and cards
  • Ink#16140FText and rules
  • Brass#C8962EThe one accent: buttons, the brand ticker, codes
  • Brass ink#7C5712Brass readable as text on bone

Type

  • Alfa Slab OneHeadings and the brand: heavy slab capitals, like the lettering on his patch.
  • IBM Plex MonoKickers, menu, buttons and photo captions: the field-notes voice.
  • Source Serif 4Reading text, calm enough for his longer captions.

Colour

Sampled from his patch: the black enamel, the bone thread and the brass of the compass rose. Brass is the only accent. The first draft was green and orange, which was too close to GRØNN Studio's own colours, so it was redone around the patch.

Type

Alfa Slab One for the headlines, so the page reads like the patch. IBM Plex Mono for every label, like notes in a field book. Source Serif 4 for reading. All three are self-hosted.

Shape

Cards carry a dashed stitch 7px in from the edge. Photos are pinned prints with brass tape, never shown larger than their sources. Night sections frame every page; bone sections carry the content between them.

Motion

Embers rise through the heroes, the motto ring turns once a minute, the brand ticker scrolls, and the numbers count up as they come into view. Under reduced motion all of it stops and the ticker becomes a plain list.

(03)The approach

  1. 01

    Everything is taken from his patch: soot-black sections with bone lettering, dashed stitching round the cards, the motto running round the badge, and his photos pinned up like prints with a strip of brass tape.

  2. 02

    The home page leads with his Instagram name, "Ben there.", the second line set in outline, with his real numbers dated: 10.1k followers, 1,257 posts and member #564 of the Wild Geese Explorers Club.

  3. 03

    Field tests quote his own Instagram captions, with the gear named and paid partnerships marked the way Instagram marks them.

  4. 04

    Work with Ben explains collaborations in three steps for brands, next to a printable media kit and a contact form that falls back to a pre-filled email.

(04)The stack

Next.js 16
Eleven static pages, a sitemap, a generated social image and one small route for the contact form.
React 19
Shared pieces, such as the stitched card, the post card and the page hero, reused on every page.
Tailwind CSS 4
Every colour is a token, with a light and a dark set that both pass WCAG AA.
TypeScript
Kit, partners and posts as typed data, each file noting where its facts came from.
Playwright + axe
Every page is checked for accessibility, together with a contrast audit and a JavaScript budget, before anything ships.
Vercel
Hosting, with a preview for every change.

(05)In the details

  1. 01

    His words, dated

    Field tests quote his own Instagram captions, shortened, each with its date and a link to the post. Follower and post counts say when they were counted.

  2. 02

    Honest links

    Paid partnerships are marked, affiliate links carry rel="sponsored", and the kit page says in plain words that some links may earn him a commission.

  3. 03

    A form that never pretends

    The contact form stores messages through a webhook. Until that is set up, it hands over to a pre-filled email instead of saying "sent".

  4. 04

    Made for brands

    A media kit page prints straight to PDF, and the home page is also in Dutch at /nl.

(06) The outcome

Eleven pages, among them Kit, Field tests, Work with Ben, a media kit, the club page and a Dutch home page, in a light and a dark theme that both pass WCAG AA.

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