WineWise Part 1
A Better Wine App
This project aims to create a more simplified and personalized wine app than Vivino, focusing on delivering consistent recommendations based on user-specific taste profiles rather than crowd ratings.
Client
Personal Project
Services
UX Research
Industries
Wine
Date
2024
The Problem
Many casual wine enthusiasts find Vivino overwhelming and difficult to use due to information overload, inconsistent ratings, limited personalization, and a cluttered discovery experience. Users often struggle to navigate the app’s extensive database, which is dominated by generic crowd-sourced reviews that don’t align with their personal preferences.
Additionally, Vivino’s focus on popularity-driven recommendations and inconsistent wine identification through label scanning can lead to a frustrating user experience for those simply seeking a wine they’ll enjoy without diving into complex wine jargon.
Research
Interviews & Insights
To understand user challenges with wine apps like Vivino, I conducted interviews with casual drinkers, enthusiasts, and collectors. My goal was to explore how they discover wines, what influences their decisions, and the pain points they encounter, helping me identify gaps and opportunities for a more intuitive and enjoyable wine discovery experience.
Competitor Analysis
I conducted a competitor analysis to understand the strengths and weaknesses of apps like Vivino and CellarTracker. This helped identify gaps in their user experience, such as inconsistent ratings and complex interfaces, and informed the design of my app, which focuses on simplicity, accurate critic scores, and personalized recommendations.
Vivino
The world's largest wine marketplace with reviews straight from the community. Get offers on wine matched to your taste.
Pros:
• User-Friendly Interface: Clean, visual, and easy to navigate, appealing to casual users.
• Large Community: Extensive database and active user base make it easy to find information on most wines.
• Social Proof: Popularity-based rankings and crowd-sourced reviews provide social validation.
• Quick Wine Scanning: Scans wine labels quickly and provides instant information.
Cons:
• Inconsistent Ratings: Crowd-sourced ratings vary widely due to differing taste preferences, leading to unreliable recommendations.
• Sales-Driven Experience: Heavy emphasis on purchasing wines can make the user experience feel more commercial than exploratory.
CellarTracker
CellarTracker is the world's largest collection of wine reviews, tasting notes and stories from people who love wine.
Pros:
• Advanced Wine Collection Tracking: Ideal for serious wine collectors who want to manage extensive cellars.
• Expert-Level Content: Provides detailed, high-quality tasting notes and maturity estimates.
• Community of Enthusiasts: Attracts more experienced users who contribute thoughtful reviews.
Cons:
• Complex User Interface: The interface is less polished and user-friendly, with a steeper learning curve for casual users.
• Limited Discovery Features: Focuses heavily on wine management and less on discovery or personalized recommendations.
• Niche Audience: More suited to serious collectors and wine enthusiasts, making it less appealing to the average wine drinker.
The Goals
The goal of this project was to design a user-centric wine app that addresses key frustrations from existing platforms. With features like personalized recommendations, critic scores, and an intuitive interface, the app aims to provide a seamless, trustworthy, and enjoyable wine discovery experience.
Create a Personalized Wine Discovery Experience
Develop a platform that tailors recommendations based on each user’s unique taste profile and mood, ensuring they receive wine suggestions that truly align with their preferences, instead of relying on generic crowd-sourced ratings.
Enhance User Experience with an Intuitive Interface
Improve Wine Scanning Accuracy
Implement reliable and accurate label scanning technology, ensuring users can quickly and consistently identify wines that match their profile, eliminating the frustration of incorrect or inconsistent results.
Simplify the Wine Selection Process
Provide users with easy-to-understand, intuitive ratings and descriptors, making it effortless for casual drinkers to choose a wine without feeling overwhelmed by complex tasting notes or technical jargon.
Incorporate Critic Scores and Expert Opinions for More Accurate Ratings
Leveraging critic insights will not only improve the accuracy of recommendations but also help users feel more confident in their wine choices, especially when selecting wines for specific occasions or investments.
Promote the Discovery of Hidden Gems
Shift the focus away from mainstream, popular wines and instead prioritize helping users uncover lesser-known options that align with their taste preferences, making the exploration process more exciting and personalized.
Personas
To guide the design process, I developed user personas based on interviews with casual wine drinkers, enthusiasts, and collectors. These personas represent key user goals, frustrations, and behaviors, helping to ensure the app meets the needs of its diverse audience and provides a seamless, enjoyable wine discovery experience.
Emily Thompson
Female, age 23
The Casual Enthusiast
Occupation: Marketing Manager
Wine Habits:
Enjoys wine occasionally with dinner or social events, typically buys wines in the $15-30 range.
Goals:
Wants to quickly find wines she’ll enjoy without needing to research or sift through extensive reviews. Prefers recommendations that are tailored to her taste rather than crowd-sourced ratings.
Frustrations:
• Overwhelmed by complex tasting notes and technical jargon in apps like Vivino.
• Finds the interface cluttered and not user-friendly.
• Struggles to discover wines that align with her preferences because recommendations often feel generic.
Needs:
• Simple, personalized recommendations based on her preferences.
• A clean, easy-to-use interface with minimal distractions.
• Accurate wine scanning that quickly identifies wines she’s interested in.
Julian Smith
Male, age 31
The Explorative Discoverer
Occupation: Freelance Graphic Designer
Wine Habits:
Enjoys exploring new wines and trying unique or lesser-known bottles. Drinks wine 2-3 times a week and loves discovering wines for different occasions.
Goals:
Wants to be introduced to hidden gems and wines that match his taste profile, while avoiding overly popular or commercialized options.
Frustrations:
• Feels that Vivino’s recommendations are too popularity-driven, often missing out on wines that align with his taste preferences.
• Finds the app’s scanning feature inconsistent and unreliable.
• Dislikes the lack of mood-based suggestions; recommendations don’t always suit his current vibe or occasion.
Needs:
• A discovery process centered on his specific tastes and interests.
• An intuitive scanning feature that consistently recognizes labels and provides relevant information.
• A recommendation system that takes mood and occasion into account, making it easier to pick the right wine for the right moment.
