Doppio — Dhruv Jesrani

Doppio

A coffee recipe and technique sharing platform with people at its center.

Solo Project

Figma, Adobe Creative Suite

UX Design
Branding
UX Research
UI Design

The problem

The coffee home-brewing industry, especially since the pandemic, has been growing at a significant rate. The National Coffee Association (NCA) reported that in January 2023, 77% of coffee drinkers prepared at least one cup of coffee yesterday at home, up from 57% in 2018.

Home-baristas however, while drawn to the ritual of brewing coffee, feel limited by their perceived skill level and capabilities their existing brewing devices have to offer.

How might we highlight the potential versatility and capability of people’s existing brewing devices, thereby making coffee brewing at home an engaging and approachable experience for coffee enthusiasts of all skill levels?

The solution

Doppio is a platform for people to view, share, and brew coffee recipes with a community of like-minded coffee lovers.

The app caters to enthusiasts with varying skill levels and brewing devices, creating an inclusive environment where everyone can be inspired to try new ways of brewing and enhance their daily ritual.

Introduction

Overview

In the past two years I have immersed myself into the world of specialty coffee and home-brewing; diving into the deep rabbit-holes of the internet, scouring coffee forums and blogs, and binge-watching educational coffee content on Youtube to try and understand how I can get my ‘natural-processed’, ‘1480-meters-above-sea-level-grown’, ‘single-origin’ beans from Guatemala to taste like fresh blueberries, have the mouthfeel of maple syrup and an aftertaste of Granny Smith apples.

This ‘hobby’ that ‘will repay itself over time’ has led me down a journey of discovery in which I learnt about the many techniques and recipes to brew great coffee with each brewing device, be it a French Press, V-60 or a South Indian Filter. Most people, however, have better things to do with their time than obsess over their kettle’s flow rate and the exact ratio of ground coffee to water.

Through this project, I wanted to look at the world of coffee through other people’s perspectives and understand their relationship with this beverage we can’t seem to get enough of.

Research

Early Conversations

I wanted to understand people’s relationship with coffee through the lens of their history with this beverage, its function to them, home-brewing, café culture and interactions and general pain-points. I spoke to 6 people between ages 20-40 who share the love for coffee.

Insights

My process of synthesizing the information from the conversations involved affinity mapping to arrive at insights, grouping together common insights to arrive at meta-insights, and converting the meta-insights into loose, open-ended how-might-we statements which open up possibilities for interventions.

Of my 6 meta-insights, I chose to take the following two forward, which had more of a focus on home-brewing. This was because through my research, the home-brewing market was more-or-less untapped, with only a few existing digital products and services that add value to the experience.

People are drawn to the ritual of home-brewing

Meta-insight 1 →

“Making coffee at home is a personal experience – my own me-time. Don’t want to make coffee in a rush.”

“I love the process! Sometimes I don’t even want to drink, but still brew nonetheless. It’s relaxing, a state of zen. It’s just me, and getting each step of the way right.”

“Brewing at home is more ritualistic; going to cafés is more for a meeting place, or for some working time.”

How might we enhance the ritualistic experience of brewing coffee at home?

How-Might-We 1 →

Cafés can provide more variety than can be made at home

Meta-insight 2 →

“I prefer going to cafés for the variation in the number of options involved. I also don’t have a pour-over setup.”

“I don’t consider myself a pro at brewing. I’m not acing it but I guess being a good barista could completely change my experience.” “I don’t have the equipment to brew cortados at home.”

“Coffee shops have more diversity to offer than I can make at home.”

How might we highlight the potential versatility of existing brewing devices?

How-Might-We 2 →

Prototype

Seeing what hits

Now that the how-might-we questions opened up countless opportunities and ideas for interventions, my goal was to present my audience with a range of divergent, early-stage prototypes to elicit strong reactions and quickly eliminate ideas and concepts that did not resonate, and take forward ones that did.

Idea 1 – A community-driven platform for new home-baristas to discover and be inspired by what people around their location are brewing.

Idea 3 – An AI-powered web extension to simplify coffee jargon and recommend coffees from the web based on to the user’s taste profile.

Idea 2 – A subscription service and digital experience of mystery coffee sampler packs from roasters around the world for coffee enthusiasts.

Idea 4 – A smart coffee station that integrates smart home assistants with coffee equipment to provide an interactive brewing experience for different recipes.

Findings from low-fi testing

Everyone loved the idea of a dynamic community at the center of coffee.

Newer home-baristas loved the idea of a platform to find different ways of using their brewing devices.

Real people’s opinions, comments and suggestions mattered more than listicles.

Inching closer

After synthesizing all of the feedback, I moved on to refining the prototype by adding more screens, a better-defined flow and potential features that the users might find useful and delightful.

This process included going back to the sketching board, trying different ways to incorporate elements that the users were attracted to, such as community, recipe sharing, interactive brewing and other social elements.

Alongside the sketches, I also designed a system map that showcases every product through a macro lens; breaking down every destination in order to gain perspective on what’s missing, what’s important and what isn’t necessary.

Falling in place

I took these sketches into Figma and digitized them with real text and images to a mid-fidelity stage in order for my users to clearly understand each screen.

Findings from mid-fi testing

Upon testing this, I was mainly greeted with excitement and eagerness.

My users loved the idea of the interactive brewing experience, and wondered why something like this didn’t already exist. They also loved the strong role that community played.

However, there were a few things that didn’t resonate with them; coffee brewing is a visual experience and text titles and descriptions alone are not enticing enough to pull someone in. The details in the interactive brewing page was also confusing and could use a lot more of a visual approach.

I had the basic structure in place and was ready to move to my final prototype stage.

Meet Doppio

Doppio is a platform where users can view, share, and brew coffee recipes with a community of like-minded coffee lovers. The app caters to enthusiasts with varying skill levels and brewing devices, creating an inclusive environment where everyone can be inspired to try new ways of brewing and enhance their daily ritual.

Product walk-through →