Craft Beer Adventures: Bar tour and event planning app

A UX case study for Craft Beer Adventures, a Wellington mobile app for planning and running craft beer bar tours. Covering user research, route optimisation, gamification and event management.

Craft Beer Adventures app screens showing venue selection map and event creation on iPhone

Rapid low-fidelity sketches

I’ll be the first to admit these sketches aren’t very attractive, however, they are a great way to get ideas down quickly and test designs before opening design tools to start producing highly polished finished designs.

Low-fidelity sketches for the Craft Beer Adventures Wellington app

User interviews and research

Through conversations and fun group pub crawls, we learned what works, what was confusing, people’s motivations, and their event expectations. Usability testing with folks who’ve had a drink had its unique challenges and rewards too!

User research motivations board for the Craft Beer Adventures app

Easy sign-up process

The app uses the Facebook API to quickly access key information such as date of birth (for legal reasons) to get people up and running as fast as possible. Alternatively, people can create an account using their email address, which just takes a few extra steps.

Wellington craft beer app sign-up
Wellington craft beer app add your phone number

Create an event

In just minutes, you can create an event and start inviting people to join your pub crawl! With the option for multiple hosts (or administrators), you’ll have all the information you need to make the event a success.

Wellington craft beer app sign-up
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Set some ground rules upfront

Right from the start, you can set clear expectations for everyone to ensure a fantastic experience! Behaving with respect and enthusiasm on the day is key, and we’ve got some helpful tips to make sure everyone enjoys themselves and maximizes the fun at the event.

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Build an optimised walking route

Quickly research Wellington craft beer venues, check reviews and create a route on-the-go using an intelligent route optimisation algorithm. Get instant feedback on the number of venues you plan to visit and the total walking distance.

Wellington craft beer app select venues
wellington-craft-beer-crawl-app-select-venues-list

Read reviews and recommendations

Add your favourite spots in a flash, and if you’re exploring a new venue, check out what others are saying to find potential gems that match your preferences.

Wellington craft beer app venue pop-up
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Get directions and track progress

The app harnesses the power of Google Maps, allowing you to easily track your progress, access directions, and get crucial distance information to the next venue.

Wellington craft beer app directions map view
Wellington craft beer app directions list view

Win prizes and beer trivia

Want to add some extra excitement to the day? How about spicing things up with fun prizes and opportunities to test your craft beer knowledge throughout the event? These little delights will keep the energy high, break the monotony, and ensure an enjoyable and entertaining experience for everyone involved!

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Communicate with team members

Team members can easily communicate (call or text) with each other throughout the craft beer tour. The app uses the phone’s native calling and text functionality so people can reach out to others in the group and see who else is on the tour as well. By making use of the phone’s capabilities it reduces the size of the app and removes the need for developers to reinvent the wheel or dealing with additional APIs.

Wellington craft beer app team
Wellington craft beer app contact team member

Group message (admin only)

Admins hold the power to send group messages to all tour participants! With a simple message, everyone gets a heads-up and learns the name of the next awesome bar to visit.

Wellington craft beer app team group message
Wellington craft beer app contact text message

Check-in and collect badges

By scanning in at each location, you’ll earn cool badges and keep track of how many you’ve collected. It’s a fun way to see your progress and discover the venues you may want to explore next! With these gamification features, let’s turn the journey into an enjoyable and rewarding adventure!

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Manage your venue

Approved venue owners can sign into the app to ensure their contact information, social profiles, avatars and about section are up to date. This information is unlikely to change too much so it’s more “set and forget”, however, we wanted to ensure owners could update this themselves.

Minimal app website

A website was created to promote and inform people how the app works. Throughout the website design, elements from the app would carry through to help navigate the person for when they start creating a route for themselves.

Craft Beer Adventures app venue selection map view

Final product designs

Here’s a quick mockup of how the final design looks on an iPhone. If you’re wondering why the venue photo is a dog, his name is Bruce and he’s a regular at The Rogue and Vagabond.

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Wellington-craft-beer-app-iPhone-quiz-mockup
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Let's collaborate

If this sounds like the way you like to work, get in contact to tell me a little about yourself and your project and I'd be happy to help. Send me an email at hello@richmcnabb.com.