Challenge

How can we help people find clean and complex nonalcoholic alternatives?

Sober lifestyles and nonalcoholic beverages are experiencing a recent surge in popularity. Still, however, people who don’t drink alcohol struggle to find interesting alternatives. For the home cooks, there is also a defecit of recipes for nonalcoholic drinks. I set out to explore how these communities might get connected to alternatives, and how to close the knowledge gap surrounding nonalcoholic drinking.

Role Research, UX/UI, Prototyping

ToolsFigma

Solution

A responsive website that connects users to craft and clean nonalcoholic cocktail recipes.

Navigate to Prototype

Research

I interviewed sober adults between 30 - 60 years old who don’t consume alcohol for cultural, religious or dietary reasons.

Current trends around sober lifestyles often center consumers with prior alcohol abuse behaviors, as opposed to populations who don’t consume alcohol for other reasons (e.g. cultural, religious, or dietary). I interviewed adults in this group over 30, because current US-based sober trends are being led adults over 30, to get a better understanding of their needs and motivations.

Insights and User Personas

Health, cultural influence, cost consciousness and entertaining were emergent trends.

Consumers preferred natural and fresh ingredients, as opposed to processed ingredients, and were largely influenced by culture and religion. They preferred thoughtful and craft beverages, but still considered specialty drinking a luxury and were hesitant to invest.

Defining the Problem

How might we help people who don’t consume alcohol for cultural or dietary reasons find halal and clean nonalcoholic alternatives? How might we close the knowledge gap surrounding nonalcoholic cocktail making?

Concepts and Initial Testing

I designed concepts for a responsive website that would connect users to nonalcoholic cocktail recipes, and allow users to purchase alternatives and drinkmaking accessories, like ingredients and glassware.

Information Architecture

Concepts and Initial Testing

I designed low fidelity wireframes for recipe-finding and checkout flows, and tested 3 different views for the recipe and glassware inventory.

I also explored desirability for a user recipe submission feature and a glossary feature.

Low Fidelity

Insights and Iterations

Users preferred simplified views, additional organization, and more complex search and filter options.

Users preferred single-page views, and information organized by tabs. They requested or expected to be able to search and filter by ingredient, and were highly motivated by images, ingredients, and flavor profiles.

The ability to search or filter by ingredient was added. It was kept visible with horizontal scrolling because it was so desirable
I tried a combination of dual column and single column views
Flavor profile was included on the recipe card abbreviated view

The glossary page was eliminated due to high effort and low impact
Definitions were made available via non-modal pop-ups

Additional Testing and Final Iterations

The horizontal scroll was distracting and the recipe metrics, time commitment and ratings, were unclear.

Users almost always interacted with the search bar first, followed by the sort and filter actions, not necessarily with the intention of using them but because they were prominent. They reacted negatively to the horizontally scrolling sort and filter and described feeling overwhelmed. All users requested clarity of the iconography. They desired specific metrics for recipe time commitment; requested additional definitions be added; and misunderstood the effort level metric.

Color vibrancy and contrast were increased
Less-gendered colors were chosen
A second search bar was added on the homepage near the top of the screen

A highly requested “features” section was added

The sort and filter were converted to dropdown menus on desktop and a drawer on mobile
The dual column view was eliminated

A search bar was included on every page because the search function was so desirable
Numbers replaced progress bars for time estimates and effort level was eliminated altogether
Rating averages were changed to units of 5 instead of units of 10

Final Prototype and Reflections

The final design is a vibrant, image and ingredient-forward recipe index.

Navigate to Prototype

I made several adjustments due to scope creep and unexpected, but exciting, test results. I scrapped features I thought would be necessary but turned out to be undesirable. I originally intended for this product to be a platform for users to submit and share their own recipes, however, too little information is available about nonalcoholic cocktail mixing—users need more information than they have to share. Potential future enhancements:

A feature the adapts the recipe to varying serving sizes
Including substitute ingredients
Adding a meal pairing for each drink recipe

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