Project Background

Our team of four teamed up with Vindome, a fine wine investment platform, for a ten-week project split into two phases—user research and prototyping. Vindome wanted to refine its user experience to attract new investors and make the platform easier to navigate.

Fine wine investment is niche, and Vindome’s app had usability issues that made it hard for new users to get started. Key problems included:

• Confusing onboarding that left users unsure of their next steps.
• Disorganized navigation, with scattered content and broken links.
• Lack of clear investment insights, making decisions difficult.

Our goal? Make the app more intuitive, engaging, and conversion-friendly.

User Research

Since none of us were wine investment pros, we started with desk research to get familiar with the industry. Vindome provided four user personas, but reaching real users was tricky. To bridge this gap, we:

• Reviewed the app and website, identifying usability issues.
• Reached out to investors via LinkedIn, securing interviews with two industry experts and a Vindome user.
• Conducted usability tests with five new investors to uncover pain points.

We mapped our findings using an information architecture diagram, effort vs. impact matrix, and customer experience pyramid to prioritize fixes.

We introduced a three-profile onboarding system, letting users choose their experience level and access relevant features right away.

• Redesigned the menu for better organization.
• Improved the dashboard, making key actions easier to find.

Beginners found it confusing, so we:

• Added collapsible explanations for clarity.
• Enhanced wine detail pages with more investment insights.

We reimagined it as a virtual wine cellar, aligning with the experience of real investors.

Users can now filter by price range and investment horizon, with helpful explanations.

Although we didn’t track hard metrics, user feedback spoke volumes:

• ✅ Smoother onboarding – Users felt more guided from the start.
• ✅ Effortless navigation – Less confusion, more engagement.
• ✅ A more intuitive portfolio experience – A win for investors.