WineMatch — Find The Perfect Wine (Part One)
Project Overview
Drinking is a huge part of Australian Culture and is mainly connected to social situations, whether that’s at a party at a friend’s house or going out for drinks after work. Along with this, Western Australia is known for its wines, with everyone recommending that you head to Swan River to have a taste.
At the current moment, there are few options for people who want to get more into drinking, especially wines. For recommendations, they would either have to go on a wine tasting tour or they would have to as a friend, who might have a totally different taste compared to them. They need a solution that educates them about the drink itself and also recommends drinks to them that suit their specific taste. Our target audience is people getting into drinking culture; age-wise, these tend to be around their mid-20s. They need a place where they don’t feel judged and instead feel comfortable exploring their options with wine drinking.
The Problem
When people start out with drinking, they’re not sure what drinks they’ll enjoy and can be confused about where they can start. It can be frustrating to read through tasting notes and descriptions and determine if you’ll like the drink you order. The Wine Industry can be daunting with its professional imagery and traditional styles, making it harder for people to feel comfortable when they are new to it.
Introducing WineMatch
A web app that focuses on providing users with recommendations by determining their taste palate and introducing and educating them on new drinks. On WineMatch, users first go through a small quiz and get assigned to a category where they receive recommendations of different wines that they might like. It would be a much less traditional app, allowing users to feel comfortable exploring without judgement. Getting started when you’re a newcomer to wine can be challenging, but WineMatch will find your perfect wine — a match made in heaven.
Background Research
The research was conducted by Valentina — the UX Researcher in our team. We analysed various websites and apps to find which trends were popular and what styles could be found utilised in different websites. We discovered that Personalised and Customised experiences were popular, along with micro-interactions and bold colours. Through the research, we realised that it was essential to focus on creating a design that balances the “sophistication” of wines and the “clumsiness” of new drinkers.
The Target Audience we decided to target was new wine drinkers, who ranged from the early 20s to early 30s.
During the research phase, there were a few key findings about the target audience group:
- The main two reasons for not drinking wine were: “I don’t like the taste” and “I find it hard to select a wine.”
- Around 60% of the interviewees considered themselves newbies to wine.
- The survey answers revealed that most of the audience decided on their beverage based on something they had drunk or a drink on the menu that attracted them.
- Most participants drink once or twice a week.
These key findings, along with more from the surveys and interviews, were kept in mind when designing, fuelling the user goals and design decisions.
User Goals
- Find the perfect wine = Users aim to easily find a wine that they can enjoy in bars and wineries in the WA region.
- Support the local market = Users aim to support the Western Australian economy and market by accessing the suggestions of the local wines. Supporting local businesses is being promoted more than ever before, and with concerns for our carbon footprints and the involvement of large companies in climate change, younger generations are encouraging each other to shop locally.
- Explore different options = Users aim to try different wines as they develop and refine their taste in wine and get familiar with the local market.
Project Goals
- Support local businesses = We aim to connect the audience with the different wineries and local wines. By doing this, we hope to help the industry.
- Help clients find the perfect product = We hope to create a website that connects users with a perfect pairing of wine that will allow them to enjoy the wine industry in Western Australia.
- An experience that reinforces the WA market = Western Australia counts with a rich tourism regarding wine, with multiple wineries through the state. We hope that we can allow a younger audience to approach this industry.
Design Research
Case studies were conducted to understand the design direction best suited to the web app. I focused on different existing websites, thematically similar ones — quiz-focused, or visually similar ones — wine-focused. I also looked into current design trends to get inspiration about what designs I could experiment with and integrate easily with wines.
Case Study #1: Nowine Concept App
The Nowine Concept app was a visually similar design, and I aimed for the type of aesthetic that it was utilising. It was clear from a glance that it was a clean, seamless app design that balanced the sophistication and then clumsiness of new drinkers — which led to them not being intimidated by the website. Balancing two opposites can be pretty complex, but Nowine does it spectacularly with a clean user interface, filled with product photography that looks professional and sophisticated but with text and colours that portray a more “playful” vibe than usual. I was heavily inspired to create the same kind of atmosphere for our design as well.
Case Study #2: Taste App
The Taste app is a movie recommendation app; however, the way it learns about the users’ tastes is a bit different. The app showcases different popular movies and asks the user to rate them based on whether they liked them. Along with this, it asks which TV streaming services users can access. This allows them to cater their movie recommendations to the users’ specific tastes and prevents frustrations for the user. This was a thematically similar app and I researched apps like these to determine the best way to layout a quiz feature.
Case Study #3: BOT (Bottles on the Table)
BOT was a website that was both thematically and visually similar to our ideas. The website inspired me to be more creative with my UI and create that “welcoming” atmosphere that was one of our goals. It was an interesting website as it was different from the professional and traditional wine designs often used in the industry. Not only was the website fun and playful, but it also utilised bright colours and various illustrations in the background that helped to create this easygoing atmosphere.
Case Study #4: BubbleKush
The BubbleKush website is one that focuses on fizz drinks, not on wine, however the micro interactions that it uses really interested me. When a user scrolls on the first screen, the bubbles rise from the bottom, and pop at the top as a reference to the fizziness. When a user hovers over the drink, the can fills with color and bold text with a “learn more” button. When clicked on, a card pops up on the side with information on the product. It also has a “get social” section where their instagram posts are in a carousel. While the UI was much too bright for what we intended for our web-app, the interactions inspired me to think of various ways that I could incorporate micro-interactions into the design.
