UI/UX Process
Mobile App Design
Introduction
Brews & Fewd is a mobile app passion project. I wanted to create an app that would assist craft beer enthusiasts to better pair their beer selections with food or other similar beer tastes depending on preferences set by each user. Brews & Fewd would essentially be your beer sommelier. Reading beer descriptions without proper knowledge has become overwhelming and at times, uninsightful. The app would help users pair or try new beers with or without food. The app would allow bars and restaurants to add their food and beverage menus to the app for more accurate pairing suggestions. Premium (paid) user accounts would allow users to display their critic status, number of reviews, user review scores and accrue critic points.
Primary goals for the app;
- Limited typing required to create a suggestion or review
- Allows users to set taste preferences that will filter pairings and suggestions
- Incentivize users to create suggestions
- Offer a premium membership account for bars, restaurants and users to advertise critic status and menus
Getting Started
My role as the UI/UX Designer was to conduct initial research for the app concept in the form of user interviews, app research and eventually, user testing. Once user research and testing was conducted and organized, feedback was interpreted and used to develop lo-fi wireframes, mid-fi wireframes and eventually, a full fledged prototype for user testing. The following iterative process was used throughout the stages of research and design;
- Conduct initial research, user interviews, app research etc.
- Extrapolate user interview feedback into feature mapping priority tree
- Design lo-fi wireframes
- Conduct user testing
- Integrate findings into mid-fi wireframes
- Create hi-fi mockups and prototypes for user testing
- Integrate findings into prototype
Research & Strategy
Five inidividuals who identified themselves as craft beer drinkers were interviewed and from my initial research, the app concept was well received. Most agreed that craft beer was becoming increasingly diverse, complex and at times, even confusing. Labels used terms that were not known and not helpful when choosing new beers.
Interesting feedback from initial user interviews;
- Will the app include filtering preferences for specific diets (ie. - keto, paleo, vegan)
- Could users "friend" one another for beer swapping purposes from various geographic locations
- Users wanted a process that would take less than 3 minutes to create a paring suggestion
- Would images be used for pairing suggestions, in app camera access?
- Would the app include a "beer dictionary" for unfamiliar terms
The Process
- ALL PROJECTS
Brews & Fewd Personas
Personas developed from user research information gathered during research stage
Brews & Fewd Questionnaire
Research questions used during user research for uncovering app feature mapping and design
Brews & Fewd App Feature Mapping
Feature Mapping for more insightful decision making with regard to the user experience for the end user
Brews & Fewd User Flow
User flow of the app for optimal navigation elements and intuitive user interface
Brews & Fewd lo-fi wireframes
Lo-fi paper mockups for layout decision making and design direction
Brews & Fewd mid-fi wireframes
Mid-fi wireframes for more a more detailed representation of the end product
Final Prototype
Click the image above to be redirected to InVision.
Results
As this is a passion project, I've not yet raised the funding needed to develop the app into a full-fledged mobile application available for public use. At this time, I continue to work on the design and improve user interface layouts when time permits. I would eventually like to partner with a mobile app developer to make this app an option for the public.
Get in touch
I work as a freelance designer in all of the above fields. If you’d like to discuss a project in more detail, feel free to drop a line. I love talking design.