Peaberry
Company
Lawrence Rocha Freelance
Responsibilities
Industries
Coffee
Date
September 2022
Melbournians love specialty coffee and want to try new coffee beans at home, but finding new ones isn’t that easy. How do coffee enthusiasts go about finding local coffee beans/roasters? This product intends to streamline the search of coffe beans. The use of many platforms before spotting the right bean/cafe seemed unnecessary and time-consuming. I approached this by designing a mobile app that would help coffee enthusiasts make the right decision within a few taps.
By interviewing users and potential customers, it was interesting to discover that there weren’t many platforms that would solve this problem effectively. It was time to go out there and put my assumptions to the test. I wanted to find out how people were actually finding their coffee beans around Melbourne. To my surprise, people didn’t really use any specific app and rarely any of the platforms I initially investigated as closest competitors. Being Instagram and Google search the most used platforms.
I tested an initial prototype that allowed the user to do a simple search with some filters about coffee preferences. Although the participants seemed satisfied with the search they thought the app was a little too simple and boring. From this feedback I understood why people were using Instagram to search for places. Instagram provides other distractions such a scrolling through other accounts while the user searches, extending the search time and making it a pass time more than a chore. As a result, the final prototype works in a way of getting more from the search journey than just a location. It provides information about the coffee bean as well as information about the cafe or roastery itself, giving the user a way of engaging with the app the shops around the area.
