Winebox

Winebox is an iPad app that assists in keeping track of a personal wine collection.

My Contribution

As one of the interface designers, I was responsible for designing the collection tab of Winebox, as well as features in other tabs. As the primary researcher, I developed a survey of 18 respondents, and conducted interviews and think-aloud user tests with various wine collectors to inform and validate the project. At the end of the course, I revised the visual design of the interface.

Problem

The initial ideas for the product began from the observation that casual wine collectors were often forgetting the details of their wines. We investigated the various stages of wine enthusiasm through interviews and a survey, and found that current options for keeping track of a wine collection aren't quite ideal.

Is there anything that frustrates you about collecting wine?

"Forgetting the wines I love the best."

"I can never remember the cost, where it came from or how long it will last."

"The price! lol but I find it's difficult to store and categorize."

Please describe methods you currently use to organize and manage your collection. Do any of these methods incorporate technology?

"None, but I could see that being useful."

"I don’t use any. Masking tape and permanent marker to mark the ones my wife can’t open"

"Nothing organized."

Solution

Winebox allows people to more easily understand and manage their wine collection, no matter how serious of a collector they are. Winebox accommodates Sunday sippers and seasoned sommeliers, and tells you everything you would like to know about your wines before you have to ask.

Process

To better understand the opportunity, we interviewed five semi-serious wine collectors and collected surveys from eighteen. From this research, we were able to identify wants and frustrations, and better understand the ways in which wine was part of people's lives.

We developed a persona based on our research to help keep the audience in mind while designing.

In order to better serve collectors, we focused on addressing frustrations that were brought up consistently when they were asked about their collections. The source of many struggles seemed to be that people couldn’t remember the details that they wanted in that moment. This led us to frame the challenge:

How might we help people keep tabs on their collections and avoid losing the details?

Further research revealed that people engage with wine in a variety of contexts; at home, at dinner with friends, at liquor stores. We also noted that people could make use of their collection information in any of these contexts.

How might we provide a companion for the various situations that surround wine?

We mapped out our persona's experience across common wine-related situations to identify frictions and opportunities.

The experience map included different contexts of use, although we ultimately ended up designing for use at home.