Uncommon
Vintage
A UI focused case study
Overview
My family is very passionate about wine and are always in search of a better way to manage our collection. The app we currently use is a lot of menus, no visuals, and uses a barcode system that requires you to print out labels to stick on the bottle. I took on the challenge to design a wine collection app from scratch and focus on a much more seamless user experience.
Wireframes
Using Figma I created low fidelity wire frames to start working on the features and overall design of the app. The main feature that I wanted to address initially was that it should be very easy to add or remove bottles of wine from your inventory. With just a click of a button you should be able to open your camera, take a picture of the label and have the app do all the work to input the information rather than manually inputting the wine details, printing out a bar code, and then sticking it on the wine bottle.
User Interviews
I conducted user interviews with wine collectors and industry professionals alike to learn more about how they manage their collection and what they like or hate about their current invesntory management solutions.
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The biggest takeaways? Accessability and clarity of purpose were complete afterthoughts in the current market offerings.
"My partner picking out a wine for herself when I'm not home is a whole process. I have to figure out one that she will enjoy, but that is also the right price and ready to drink now. Then I have to explain to her where to find it. I'd love something that tells her what to drink, from where, with the press of a button without input from me."
Brand Strategy
The wine industry has typically been viewed as stuffy, old, and pretentious. The majority of the branding for wine related businesses feels equally dated, almost always using a color palette of earth tones to reflect the grapes being grown in the dirt.
However, I believe wine drinking and collecting should be about a respect for the craft, emphasizing learning about new things, and that above all else drinking and collecting wine should be fun!
For Uncommon Vintage I selected a bright, light, and ever-so-slightly over the top color palette to show that more than anything else drinking wine should be enjoyable and accessible.
All image studies for Uncommon Vintage are centered around not just bright colors but also images of sunny vineyards, rambunctious toasts, and showcasing young and innovative winemakers whose wines (and branding!) are a fit for the Uncommon Vintage target audience.
UI Elements
My UI choices for this project were driven by the belief that above all else drinking and collecting wine should be fun. Inspired by the design choices made by up and coming wine makers focused on natural wines, I selected a color palette that reads bright and cheerful. I chose Roboto for the primary font, as it is known for being easy to read with friendly curves that mimic the approachability of these vibrant, young wines.
Final Mockups
I designed Uncommon Vintage to emphasize key functionality differently on various devices, reflecting how real users said they like to manage their inventory.
The key functionality focus on a smartphone is adding and removing wine from your collection using the phone camera.
On larger screens, such as laptops and iPads, I designed the functionality to focus on a more robust and detailed inventory system.
Prototype
Conclusion
This case study originated to both solve a problem that had long irked me personally as well as providing me with an opportunity to think about design across multiple device form factors.
Designing each version of Uncommon Vintage to maximize the capabilities of each device, as well as incorporating real time feedback from potential users and incorporating my own experiences in collecting wine, allowed me to build out a market-tested concept that could easily be launched to strong, positive user response.