SUMMARY

Our clients came to us for help with a rather clunky prototype for a mobile application called Barly. This application would help novice to somewhat knowledgeable craft beer drinkers make better, more informed choices based on their individual taste preferences. The key feature of the design is the ability to photograph a printed beer menu through the use of OCR (optical character recognition) technology and then provide users with ratings, reviews, and information retrieved from BeerAdvocate's open API.

PROCESS & SOLUTIONS

As the visual designer, I was heading into the domain of branding when I conceived of a digital bartender/beer expert in your pocket, tentatively named 'Barly Tender' by my partner, Samantha Burke. I felt that having a character to engage, guide, and entertain the user, much like a good bartender does, would make the user journey a distinct, personal, and fun experience.

Greatly inspired by the early animated films of Terry Gilliam for Monty Python's Flying Circus, I paired a paper, cut-out bartender with a rather risky visual style reminiscent of an old pub chalkboard. Given the design flourishes, this is not exactly the norm for modern application design, and certainly a bit of a challenge given the limited real estate of mobile.

'Barly Tender' is a terrific fit for the pervasive sense of humor found in craft beer branding and beer drinking culture, in general.

We had a hunch that our user research and our survey would validate users' needs for the application, however, we had to do our due diligence. We were pleasantly surprised by the strength of the results.

"Craft Beer and Consumer Behavior" (Garver, et al., 2014) provided a wealth of research and was most interesting in that it identified specific types of craft beer consumers. The majority of these consumers form a profile dubbed 'The Explorers'.

The most important behaviors of the Explorers as relates to their potential needs is their overwhelming preference for craft beer, taking great pride in continuously trying new beers, and a very solid interest in learning more about craft beer, in general.

It was also very satisfying to learn the use of printed beer menus is widespread and how often they were referenced by craft beer drinkers when making a selection. Obviously, this information is paramount to the validity of the business model for Barly.

ONBOARDING NEW USERS & THE TUTORIAL

In service to their business goal of capturing users, we sought clarity from our stakeholders as to what point users would be expected to sign up. It was agreed that users would be given the option to sign up upon launching the app, but would only be required to sign up if they chose to leave a rating or share their beer choices with their friends through Facebook.

While we designed the tools and features of the app to be as intuitive as possible, we felt giving users a clear, concise tutorial would be thoughtful. In doing so, we tried to strike a balance between informing users of the tools and features of the app, yet allowing them the delight and sense of discovery of using them on their own. And, yes, the tutorial may be skipped altogether, if the user prefers.

Again, the use of a personality to serve as a friendly guide through the process helps create a narrative and furthers the emotional connection between the user and the application.

THE PALATE TOOL

This is the single, most important tool in the Barly arsenal in terms of matching users' taste preferences with the many styles of craft beer. It probably comes as no surprise to learn that it's taste, above all else, that guides choice. We wanted a simple, meaningful, go-to tool that could be used by any level of craft beer drinker. For more seasoned drinkers, we allowed for the option to make selections based on specific styles as well as by region.

PROCESSING RESULTS

From the beginning, we expressed our concern with the potential frustration users might experience if they had to wait long for their results. We wanted our stakeholders and the development team to understand that it was critical that the processing time be kept to a minimum.

RESULTS & RATINGS

Menu photos, barcode scans, and ordinary searches are filtered in accordance with the user's palate preferences and displayed as tidy 'cards'. Users can then sort the cards via a familiar drop down menu of additional categories.

We struggled here with ways to continue the engagement between users and Barly Tender once their results were displayed. We knew we didn't want the relationship to end there. Who appreciates a disappearing bartender?

Our solution was to ask users to 'swipe right' if they actually order one of Barly's recommendations. This would subtly tell the Barly app you have actually ordered the beer as well as save it to My Beer History. It also starts a 'hidden timer' so that Barly may return in, say, 10 minutes to check-in with you and remind you to rate your beer.

Again, these efforts were all about creating an authentic and thoughtful experience for users.

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