Pinnacle Oak represents the finest quality products in the Australian wine industry, offering exceptional sales and customer support. As the exclusive agent for renowned cooperages like Tonnellerie Sylvain and Tonnellerie Meyrieux, Pinnacle Oak caters to the needs of experienced winemakers. This project focuses on developing a compelling website to attract global clients and enhance brand recognition.
We first understood the three key components that make up Pinnacle Oak and the webpage, which are the target audiences, the goal, and the problem.
We analysed potential target audiences from three different perspectives and identified winemakers as the primary target audience, as they represent the largest group. Their characteristics, or pain points, are the key factors to prioritise when defining the goal.
As we identified the key characteristics of our primary target audience, we focused on addressing two main pain points. From this, our goal became clear.
‘’Create a Simple, Trustworthy Website to Showcase Pinnacle Oak’s Professionalism and the Value of Its Premium Barrels, Building Lasting Customer Relationships.’’
Winemakers may be hesitant to trust Pinnacle Oak as a new company. To overcome this, we must establish credibility by showcasing our expertise and long-term reliability. How can we prove our value and build trust with them?
Pinnacle Oak projects had time constraints with their 4-week design sprints. However, the Pinnacle Oak project required building a complete website from scratch, so we dedicated more time to the ideation and design phases.
We conducted heuristic analyses of 9 cooperage websites and organised the key takeaways to perform a SWOT analysis. We identified several critical issues across the websites of most competitors:
First, to better understand winemakers' needs and pain points, we conducted interviews with four winemakers. The goal was to learn how they approach barrel selection and the factors that influence their decision-making process when choosing an online cooperage supplier. Through these interviews, we gathered valuable insights, which are outlined below:
As we gathered key insights from analyses and interviews, we then synthesised them into an affinity map. We identified four significant perspectives.
Create an ‘’About Pinnacle Oak’’ page and detailed ‘’Cooperage Introduction’’ pages for each of the three cooperages represented.
As a new company, it’s crucial to establish credibility and trust . Showcasing the team’s expertise and experience will help winemakers feel confident in selecting Pinnacle Oak as a reliable partnet.
Create a dedicated ‘’Sourcing Our Oak’’ page that explain the barrel characteristics, wood sourcing methods, and manufacturing process.
Winemakers need clear information about barrel origins and quality to make informed choices. Transparent sourcing and production details will build trust and ensure product consistency.
Add a ‘’Barrel Care’’ section with instructional videos, guides, and blogs.
Offering educational content helps less tech-savvy users understand barrel maintenance, positioning Pinnacle Oak as a knowledge, long-term partner.
Develop a well-structured FAQ page to address common questions.
An FAQ page will help users quickly find answers and improve their overall experience, especially for those unfamiliar with the site or industry.
We have framed and refined the "How Might We" question to clearly define the direction for brainstorming ideas, ensuring that the ideation process is focused and aligned with the problem at hand.
Due to time constraints, each of us had 4 minutes to come up with 4 ideas in response to the "How Might We" question. We then voted on 3 ideas that were deemed high-value and feasible for implementation.
Based on the client's expectations for the IA and the valuable insights we discovered in the opportunities section, we have crafted a comprehensive IA structure. This structure not only reflects the client's vision but also addresses the gaps and opportunities identified through our research. By aligning with both the client’s needs and the findings from our analysis, we have created an intuitive, user-centric IA that enhances accessibility and navigability.
After defining the key features for the first version, we focused on visual design and interaction details. This MVP will undergo usability testing to gather user feedback for further iterations. The two core features are the detailed barrel profile and a virtual tour of the manufacturing process.
After usability testing, we refined the design based on feedback to enhance the user experience. Iterations marked with * were made by me and my teammate Lulin post-project.
Less tech-savvy users felt lost while browsing the page, so we added an arrow to guide scrolling on long pages.
In response, Lulin and I also introduced a "Scroll to Top" button to help users navigate more easily.*
Users found the "Choosing the Right Oak" section confusing and suggested placing it on the homepage. We renamed it to "Sourcing Our Oak" and moved it to the homepage for better visibility and accessibility.
After reviewing with Lulin, we identified that the expanding FAQ section caused confusion. To improve usability, we added an accordion feature to condense the content and enhance navigation.
''A big thanks to the team for their professional work on the website design and build. They showed incredible patience with me and quickly grasped the nuances of my niche industry. Special thanks to Lynn for her pivotal role in UX design, branding, and delivering a final product that exceeded my expectations. Her deep insights into our industry, customers, and products were clearly reflected in the final result.''
