The App

Taste Lab is an Android application for people who work in positions where knowledge about wine would help them to do their jobs better or to advance in their career. Through going through highly tailored lesson plans which meet their individual needs, professionals can acquire the fundamentals of wine knowledge they need for their situation.

Case Study

This complete case study will take you through an overview of the process through which the designs for Taste Lab were created.

My role was to see this project through the entire design cycle from conception to handoff.

How might we guide new beverage alcohol professionals to strong foundational product knowledge and facilitate peer support? 

Problems for Professionals

In my previous career working as a Product Consultant at the LCBO, I saw my peers and colleagues struggle to learn what they needed to know about alcohol to be able to sell it effectively. This project is made in an effort to make learning about alcoholic beverages (emphasis on wine) more approachable and easier for working industry professionals.

Research

Revealing motivations, goals, and pain points.

Interviews

A group of alcohol professionals were interviewed to find their desires, goals, motivations, but also challenges, pain points, and frustrations. 

Insights

Everyone mentioned that to learn about wine in particular was the most difficult to get into and experienced:

• self-consciousness to ask questions of colleagues

• feeling overwhelmed at the vastness of information

• a desire for guidance about what to learn

Bio

Madeline has just started a new job as a server in a popular craft beer and wine bar. The drinks menu is very complex and often customers have questions about it and she often is unsure of what to say. She wishes she knew where to begin learning about these beverages since the resources she found were overwhelming to her.

Mapping out Madeline’s experience, by showing what she is doing, thinking, and feeling at every step of her learning journey.

Sketches

Ideation involved a series of sketches, trying out different ideas and referring back to our persona, Madeline, and to the interview insights.

Digital Sketches

Concept: to plan beverage tasting events with peers and colleagues in order to grow practical knowledge, and supplement that with digital lessons that reference the theme of the tasting event.

Using sketch almost for the first time, I made these as the first wireframes of any app I had ever made for a school capstone project.

Proof of concept testing

Using these wireframes, the very first round of user testing was conducted. They were asked to identify usability issues with navigation to get them using the app and then were asked for comments on how they already plan tasting events. Every single person suggested that this app is not something they would use for the event functions, but were very excited to go through guided lessons. They all mentioned how they are always looking for help deciding what is important for them to learn next and to be able to learn from other professionals of high knowledge levels.

User testing and more primary research lead to a distinct shift in core functionality.

Move away from Events

After doing the first round of user testing, it was clear that professionals do not need this type of functionality in a totally separate application. Already they meet with others spontaneously or use existing social media and calendar apps to schedule tasting groups, events, and meet ups.

Learning with Guidance

What this user base is dying to have resources for is access to the expertise of their peers. Professionals want to be able to ask questions, be told what to learn next, and know what resources are actually valuable before engaging with them.

Wireframe Creation Process

Brand Visual Identity

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UI Inspiration from other apps

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Material Design Guidelines

Mood Board

Elegant but not intimidating.

App Icon

Depicting motion, app colours, and wine theme.

Usability Testing

Three of the major changes made after a second round of usability testing was done:

1. Major Change to Confirm Screen

High Fidelity Wireframes

The state of this project at the time of submission:

1/8

LEssons

Results

The app concept and flow were validated by 90% people interviewed regarding these wireframes.

Next Steps

Develop the Courses

Revisit the actual course content and test what is the most meaningful information to give at different career stages.

Iterate Forever

Make changes based on feedback from the last round of user testing. Keep iterating!