CASE STUDIES / MIXERS X COCA-COLA
OFF MENU
Mixers X Coca-Cola is a program of work comprising of web tools, platforms and content. Primarily a B-2-B solution, (but with some B-2-C elements) it exists to educate, inspire and provide value added services to bars and pubs.
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Rather surprisingly, this is Coca-Cola's first mixers product portfolio focussed solution.
Project components
Project Management:
Trello
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Platforms:
ImageMagick (menu generation), MySQL (database)
CX/UX/UI/ Content design:
Adobe Creative Cloud (XD, Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects), Zeplin
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Development:
PHP 8, Symfony
Full disclosure... this project was very difficult to manage through the design foundation phase. The client had specific pre-defined requirements in terms of features and functionality, but these hadn't been verified with a solid set of researched user needs. So I commenced the project with the prospect of designing a product that might solve problems that weren't problems, or might solve them in ways that didn't align symbiotically with the users' lives... not ideal. But let's be honest, for most of us, this wouldn't be the first time this sort of thing defined the kickoff of a project.
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Having facilitated several workshops, I started to get an idea of the full functional requirements for all the Mixers products and specifically for an online menu designer MVP (these were captured as must have features, nice to have, and lower priority etc). Coke wanted the menu design tool to allow a venue owner to easily design a great looking menu without design skills and significant time investment. They could then order that menu through the product and have it printed for free.
Menu design tool
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Through iterative design sprints, myself and the team refined and simplified information structures and the key flows. Collaborating with engineering, we defined the functional specification and data structures. Essentially the product consisted of 3 main sections: A Drink library, a repository of drinks that could possibly appear on a menu. Venue library, the specific details of each venue a menu could be designed for and Menu library, a list of all the designed menus.
Design sprints
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We created data structures that would inform the drink and venue libraries and defined the back-end admin panel that would allow the client to approve joining members and their menu designs.
Testing
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Using Coca-Cola's own mixers team as the test panel, we rapidly created detailed wireframes and prototypes gathering useful feedback to help shape the flows and information design.
UI Design
The aim of the UI was to create something functional and usable but also vibrant and appealing. Use of colour way key for signposting and delineating key sections and features.
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On top of physical (paper) menus, during the pandemic we added digital menu output, to allow drinkers to view the venue's menu without having to touch anything
Other elements
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The menu maker tool was embedded in a wider Mixers web destination that included an website, focused on product education and recipes, and a pairing tool. This allowed users to identify the best Coca-Cola Mixers product to match a specific brand of spirit.
Innovation and Rollout
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The menu maker tool launched in the UK and within a year, was picked up and rolled out in Coke's LATAM business unit (5 target markets) as part of a wider MY BAR initiative.
Alongside designing physical and digital marketing materials, I created toolkit of acquisition assets, such as the conductive cocktail cards, for the Coke sales reps boost in-person product engagement.